Disc drill or hoe drill? Does it have to be an 'or' question? Since 2008, Pillar Lasers Inc., based at Warman, Saskatchewan, has been making hybrid disc/hoe openers that are designed to give the grower the best of both worlds. As Pillar's Mike Friesen explains in this video filmed at Canada's Farm Progress Show in... Read More
Category: Agronomy
If the world of soil biology had its own version of Facebook, crops like peas, lentils, corn and flax would be listed as "in a symbiotic relationship" with mycorrhizal fungi. The microscopic organisms help these crops access phosphorus in the soil. Wheat would probably be friends with mycorrhiza, as cereals see some benefit from having... Read More
Dry conditions at seeding followed by plenty of rain left some canola growers in Western Canada wondering if their canola had enough nitrogen to reach its yield potential. As a result, there was increased interest in top-dressing N on canola this growing season. As Jack Payne, regional agronomist with Farmers Edge, explains in this Canola... Read More
In early July, IP soybean growers aren’t typically thinking about weed control. But when it comes to nightshade, growers need to be diligent and watch for late flushes that could compromise the quality of food grade export markets, explains Huron Commodities agronomist Wayne Wheeler. In this episode of Real Agriculture Soybean School, Wheeler explains that... Read More
What impact can fungicide have on corn that’s suffering through the dry Ontario summer? It all depends on your crop’s yield potential, explains BASF technical development specialist Rob Miller. Quite simply, fungicide applications are designed to protect yield potential throughout the grain fill period. Maintaining healthy plants that stay green allows for a greater amount... Read More
Round one of fungicide application is done, but it's starting to wear off and conditions are still conducive for disease. Knowing what your peas and/or lentils are worth this year, do you take the sprayer out or hire a plane for a second fungicide application? It's a scenario growers in parts of Western Canada are... Read More
Pride Seeds market agronomist Ken Currah uses the term ‘troweled-in corn’ to describe a scene he witnessed too often during the 2016 planting season. In this episode of Real Agriculture Corn School, he describes how planting corn into cool wet soils this spring was, in some cases, very similar to the act of troweling concrete.... Read More
Wheat stripe rust is thriving in Ontario and growers are asking what can they do to manage a growing scourge of what European growers now refer to as ‘Yellow Death.' In this episode of Wheat School, Real Agriculture agronomist Peter Johnson takes you to the Ontario Cereal Crops Committee performance trials near Harriston, Ontario where... Read More
A science textbook will tell you the intense energy surrounding a lightning bolt causes a reaction between oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere that results in rain depositing nitric acid on the soil, where it becomes a usable form of nitrogen fertilizer for plants. On Twitter and in coffee shops, farmers sometimes give lightning credit... Read More
Would your canola crop benefit from a top-dress or rescue application of nitrogen? A tissue test will give you an idea of whether plants are deficient, but you'll have to wait for results. As Jack Payne explains in this Canola School episode, there are now several versions of in-field sensors that help agronomists and growers... Read More