It’s the final Word of 2025, landing just in time for Christmas! In this special year-end episode, Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson shares agronomic insights with a philosophical twist — encouraging rest, reconnection, and a deeper look at the long-term impacts of what we do, both in the field and in life. Have a question you’d... Read More
Category: Agronomy
As artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT gain traction across agriculture, questions are growing about where they fit — and where they fall short — in agronomic decision-making. That is the focus of this Pulse School episode hosted by Amber Bell, joined by RealAgriculture’s Lyndsey Smith, examining how ChatGPT stacks up against experienced agronomists when answering... Read More
On this episode of The Agronomists, host Lyndsey Smith is joined by Peter "Bah Humbug" Johnson of RealAg and Mike "Ho Ho Ho" Palmier of MNP Ag Intellect to review the 2025 growing season and discuss top agronomic issues, challenges and wins or surprises from spring, summer, and fall! This episode of The Agronomists is... Read More
The Great Lakes Yield Enhancement Network (YEN) wrapped up its fifth season earlier this year with the 2024-2025 competition winner, Michigan grower Nick Suwyn, harvesting a whopping winter wheat yield of 182.6 bushels/acre. The YEN wheat concept, which fosters collaboration and knowledge exchange among farmers across Ontario and the Great Lakes region of the United... Read More
You can learn a lot about what makes a good soybean variety in 27 years. That's how long Dr. Istvan Rajcan has been breeding soybeans at the University of Guelph. For the past 10 years, Rajcan has focused his breeding efforts on developing new high-yielding and high-quality disease resistant cultivars for the short- and medium-season... Read More
It’s the second-last Word of 2025, and Wheat Pete is diving into resistance risks, fertilizer economics, and the big agronomic takeaways from recent conferences. From septoria strains in the UK to corn-on-corn nitrogen credits, there’s no shortage of head-turning info this week — plus a reminder to challenge long-held practices (like plowing down red clover).... Read More
How much more resilient and productive are soils with higher organic matter content? A quick review of available research and a look at farm fields paints a pretty clear picture of the power of soil organic matter, says University of Minnesota soil extension specialist Jodi DeJong-Hughes. On this episode of the RealAgriculture Soil School, DeJong-Hughes... Read More
Effective scouting and timely decision-making remain the foundation of managing insect pests in canola, particularly when it comes to bertha armyworm and cabbage seedpod weevil. In this episode of the Canola School, recorded at Canola Week in Saskatoon, RealAgriculture’s Amber Bell spoke with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research scientist Meghan Vankosky about how growers can... Read More
Integrating cover crops into cash crop systems doesn’t have to mean adding livestock or completely reworking existing farm practices. Saskatchewan agronomist Kerry Nell says on this episode of Farming Forward that integrating a cover crop successfully requires a practical, low-disruption approach to balance limited water resources, tight seeding windows, and short growing seasons. He's seeing... Read More
On this episode of The Agronomists, host Lyndsey Smith is joined by Aaron Daigh of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Ian McDonald of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Agribusiness to talk about soil water infiltration and the impact of compaction. Up for discussion: soil dynamics, soil aggregates, the role of macropores, infiltration rates,... Read More