Western Canadian farmers growing field pea and dry beans have a new option for control of broadleaf and grassy weeds in Viper ADV. A liquid product with two modes of action, Viper ADV can help farmers with their fungicide resistance management plan without severely restricting re-cropping options. Lyndsey Smith spoke with Glen Forster, technical development... Read More
Category: Agronomy
Potassium is critical for in-plant water management, which means that adequate levels of the nutrient at various depths is a key component of how well a crop handles drought stress. While no one can accurately predict a drought, managing overall soil health and nutrient levels is a great way to add some drought risk management... Read More
While I may get called out for jumping the gun here, but now that the holidays are over and the extreme weather of winter is upon us (super cold on the Prairies, balmy in Ontario), I can't help but start asking about the planting season. Yes, really. A good farmer friend was over this weekend... Read More
Harvest management and timing is always important, but for a shatter-prone crop like canola, it's paramount to preserving yield in the field and the swath. As canola acres have jumped, so to has the rush at harvest to try and swath and harvest all of the acres at the optimum timing. That can prove a... Read More
If some is good, is more better? Well, that depends on what we're talking about. Horst Bohner, soybean specialist with OMAFRA, definitely supports moving towards optimal number of plants per acre and that might mean higher seeding rates, but when it comes to tillage and fertilizer, less can certainly be more. Soybeans are unlike other... Read More
Owning the latest and greatest technology is great, but actually using it to its full potential is what makes the cost worthwhile. When that involves your iPhone, it's understandable that some apps amount to bells and whistles, but when the technology sits inside your tractor cab, having the latest and greatest needs to earn its... Read More
I am attending CropWeek 2013 in Saskatoon this week which always involves some great discussions in the sessions and the hallway. I had a grain /seed industry insider ask me a really interesting question today. "Do we really need to re-create the wheel with wheat? Does wheat royalty collection for research really need to be... Read More
The 2012 drought that hit Ontario producers hard, hit Indiana farmers even harder. So hard in fact that it was one of the worst yielding crop years on record. That number being relative to what's expected given technology and management practices of the time. Needless to say, that puts drought tolerance as an issue that's... Read More
Any way you look at it, 90 million dollars is a lot of money. That's the amount the Western Grains Research Foundation has accrued over the years due to the railways exceeding their revenue cap. That's sad news for farmers who paid much more than they should have for transport, but the good news is... Read More
In part 1 of our conversation with Dr. Hugh Earl of the University of Guelph he talked about the impact water stress can have on soybean yields. That study suggested that at some point during a number of growing seasons, even if rainfall was adequate, some yield was being lost to water stress. One of... Read More