Soybean growers in many regions were teased with an early spring, only to have the weather turn very cold for at least two weeks. Some growers are getting worried about the cold soil conditions and overall cool weather that may have knocked the crop back. To answer questions about cold weather and general soybean agronomy,... Read More
Category: Crop Production
When it comes to emergence of the wheat crop, producers often have many hopes of what that should look like — without necessarily knowing how to manage those expectations. Often, stand emergence is judged on seedling vigour. However, as Jeremy Boychyn, agronomy research extension specialist with the Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions explains in this... Read More
The weather feels more like mid-April than mid-May, and many farmers in Ontario are worried about corn and soybean seed in the ground and wheat heads above ground. There are reasons to be concerned, as nighttime temperatures over the last week have dipped very low and sometimes for the entire night. In this week's Wheat... Read More
The Seed Variety Use Agreement (SVUA) pilot program launched earlier this year now includes five varieties, as DL Seeds in Manitoba has announced the registration of two new field pea varieties that will be part of the project. A Seed Variety Use Agreement allows plant breeders to set a royalty fee, referred to as a... Read More
What effect will extreme cold temperatures have on early-season weed control? That's a question University of Guelph, Ridgetown College weed scientist Dr. Peter Sikkema has been hearing a lot lately. With farm fields across Ontario being punished by extreme cold temperatures that have dropped to nighttime lows of minus 5 degrees C, many growers are... Read More
With extreme cold temperatures continuing across Ontario, when should growers resume planting soybeans? Planting came to a halt late last week as Ontario finds itself in the grip of extended cold daytime and nighttime temperatures. Snow covered parts of the province during the weekend and into Monday. And there's more to come — some areas... Read More
There was a time when many people thought of field insects like weeds — all bad. Weeds steal yield, so we try to eliminate all or mostly all of those weeds. Now through many years of research, the way we look at insects in a crop has begun to shift away from this all-bad, all-must-go... Read More
Just how important is the European Union canola (rapeseed) market? According to LeftField Commodity Research, the region had more than doubled its year-over-year canola imports up to mid-March of this year, offsetting nearly half of the Canadian tonnage that would have been sold to China. That's a significant increase, says Jonathan Driedger with LeftField, driven... Read More
By Peter Johnson, RealAg Agronomist, @WheatPete It is COLD! There are lots of questions right now about how low nighttime temperatures in the forecast might impact Ontario's awesome wheat crop. I am hoping this is just another one of those times that growers like to “kill” the wheat crop, but the reality is that there... Read More
After a decent start to the spring season, Ontario's weather has done a bit of a 180 and turned cool and damp. What does it mean for planting and spraying? In this week's episode of Wheat Pete's Word, host Peter Johnson covers why tank contents might be more important than temperature when it comes to... Read More