Category: Agronomy

Here's a fun question: what nitrogen recommendations do you follow? Do you vary it by crop type or by field, ie. do you have a "canola blend"? Do you use tried-and-true removal rates compared against a current soil sample analysis? Or do you work backwards from a target yield? No matter which way you currently... Read More

Following the snow in parts of Alberta on Monday, weather models are indicating the 2014 growing season will likely come to an end across much of Western Canada this week. It's not what any farmers want to hear, but the first widespread killing frost is expected to arrive over the next few nights, says Drew... Read More

Challenges with getting this year’s canola crop off the field are shortening the window for seeding winter wheat. While canola stubble is the preferred seed bed for winter wheat, a delayed growing season and untimely rains over the last few weeks have resulted in canola harvest running later than normal in much of Western Canada.... Read More

When it comes to diseases that rob canola yields, blackleg often doesn't get the credit it deserves. Many farmers underestimate the significance of blackleg, says Bruce McKinnon, an agronomist with Dekalb in Alberta, in the video below. "Blackleg is a powerful disease that seems to be able to adapt to whatever we throw at it.... Read More

Commercial beekeeper Hugh Simpson believes farmers and beekeepers have to collaborate, communicate and co-operate to ensure Ontario's bee population remains strong and healthy. Simpson is a founding member of the Independent Commercial Beekeepers Organization. The group was founded by like-minded beekeepers who make a living keeping bees as livestock based on economics, logic and practical... Read More

Once upon a time, something like a cabbage and a turnip-like plant engaged in a very "fortuitous cross pollination" and a new species was born, first known as oilseed rape, and then further cross-bred to become the human-consumption form, canola. It's this cross-pollination so long ago that has made mapping of the canola genome a... Read More

With seed companies preparing for an expansion in corn acres across the prairies, farmers considering growing Roundup Ready corn for the first time are wondering whether it fits in crop rotations that already include Roundup Ready canola. The concern is the introduction of another glyphosate-tolerant crop could complicate management of volunteer forms of corn or... Read More

The law firm of Siskinds LLP, based at London, Ont., has launched a class action regarding neonicotinoid pesticides, specifically those containing imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiomethoxam, designed, developed, marketed and produced by Bayer (as Bayer CropScience) and Syngenta. The action, set in motion by Sun Parlor and Munro Honey, seeks in excess of $400 million in... Read More

When it comes to planting no-till wheat, Phil Needham, of Needham Ag Technologies, says farmers need to think first about the combine before rolling out the drill. "You can buy the best piece of seeding equipment on the market, but it's only going to be as good as the residue management (in a no-till system)... Read More

So you're thinking of switching to a wider row spacing for next year's soybeans. Have you taken your hula hoop around this year's crop first? Though there isn't necessarily an "ideal" row spacing suggested for western Canadian soybean growers, the importance of knowing a target plant population and assessing stand establishment is still essential. Related:... Read More