There are some topics, like fungicide responses or herbicide efficacy comparisons, that really only need a few years of work before you can begin to draw conclusions. Other agronomic considerations, like crop rotations and tillage practices, require years and years of data to fully capture the value of a particular tactic. Ontario has two long-term... Read More
Category: Agronomy
If you cannot see the above embedded audio player, click here We have discussed retro-fitting older farm equipment with the latest in precision farming technology in the past, but we think that we have found maybe the most significant retro fit ever. Middlesex Soil and Crop has invested in a 1977 JD6600 combine to change... Read More
Planters can offer significant advantages over seeders — precise depth placement, seed singulation and gentle handling of seed, to name a few — but the machines are also best suited for large-seeded, tall-growth crops like corn and sunflowers, not canola. Recent interest in planters for canola has encouraged at least one company, Monosem, to begin... Read More
There are few things that get a farmer's blood pumping like a field ready for the seeder and shiny new iron to drag across it. With the growing corn and soybean acres in the west, more farmers have adopted row crop planters, and, inevitably, wondered how good a job they would do on other crops.... Read More
Editor's note: This is Owen Roberts' Real Talk, Real Action column. Each week, Owen will offer his insight into how farmers and the agricultural industry can participate in the rural- and ag-related discussions going on around them. Contact Owen at owen@uoguelph.ca or on Twitter at @TheUrbanCowboy. What’s spreading faster in Canada -- herbicide-resistant weeds, or... Read More
BASF Canada and Monsanto Canada believe in the power of tank-mixing so much, the companies are willing to reward farmers to do it. The two companies, in conjunction with retailers in Eastern Canada, are offering farmers a $1-per-acre rebate when RoundupWeatherMax is purchased with matching acres of Integrity, Eragon, Marksman or Armezon herbicides. These tank-mix... Read More
Think double cropping soybeans after wheat is an outlandish idea? In reality, there are just as many or more accumulated heat units from July onward as the entire growing season in Western Canada, and that area is expanding acres at an incredible rate. The key to making it work is meticulous variety selection (shorter season,... Read More
The Edmonton area of Alberta has the unwanted title of "clubroot hotspot," as this is where the disease first took hold. The incidence map has grown each year since clubroot was confirmed in canola in 2003. Then, not long ago, viable spores were detected in Saskatchewan soils. Last week, the Manitoba government confirmed viable spores... Read More
It's positively refreshing to see a discussion on the plight of threatened grasslands, world hunger and political unrest have a tangible, though only partial, solution. What's more, livestock production has been criticized by environmentalists as too water intensive and hard on delicate ecosystems to be sustainable. A recent presentation, however, is turning this notion on... Read More
I'm not a big markets person. I know, I know, it's agriculture, how could I not be into markets? I have a basic understanding of charts and outlooks, of course, but by my heart is in the soil, plants and animals — the futures market is rather Greek to me. Still, it's difficult to attend... Read More