It'd be fantastic if this Wheat Pete's Word update included a milestone planting progress update, but 2019 is proving to be a slow one for much of Ontario. And while Western Canada is having much more luck getting the crop in, areas are still dry to very dry. Questions submitted for this week's show involve... Read More
Category: Crop Production
With the abundance of chilly, wet conditions, growers in Ontario and Quebec have seen very limited progress in planted acres to date. Tuesday on RealAg Radio on RuralRadio 147, Peter Johnson said that he estimates planting in Ontario is only five to 10 per cent completed at this time. "There were a few guys that... Read More
As farmers in the U.S. wait on the edge of their seats to learn how much each commodity will get for round two of the Market Facilitation Program (MFP), a source told two Bloomberg reporters that the Trump administration is eyeing $2 per bushel for soybeans. NEWS: Trump admin is preparing to announce another round... Read More
The executive director at Soy Canada says exporters are reporting that China is holding shipments of soybeans on arrival while the country conducts tests for "some normal plant pathogens." "We haven't heard of this happening before, so it seems to be new," Ron Davidson says. The delay has not yet been confirmed to RealAgriculture by... Read More
It might seem counter-intuitive, but slowing down corn emergence may actually boost yields. Last fall, RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson took a close look at corn research plots and concluded that optimum distance between corn plants matters far less than uniform emergence. He also discovered that achieving perfectly uniform emergence takes planting deep. We already know... Read More
Ten years of soil data suggests that regardless of soil texture, pH, or crop rotation, there's one thing that impacts soil carbon more than anything else — temperature. Dr. Ed Gregorich, soil research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) based at Ottawa, Ont., is drawing on data from a long-term, national soil study. Gregorich... Read More
Planting is rolling on, even if it is verrrry slowly for parts of Ontario. Meanwhile, crops are emerging well in many parts of the Prairies. This week's Wheat Pete's Word tackles some timely topics, such as creative ways to apply N to hungry wheat, why starter fertilizer is almost always worth it on corn, and... Read More
If you have weeds pop up prior to planting soybeans you can control them with a burndown herbicide application. But what happens when rain and wind conspire to prevent you from applying a burndown and you have to control weeds after planting? That's the situation many Ontario growers are facing in 2019 as the wet... Read More
Len Siemens, one of the founding members of Canadian Foodgrains Bank, passed away on April 25, 2019, at the age of 93. Back in the mid-1970s, Len Siemens was part of a small group who created the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Food Bank into which farmers could donate grain for shipment overseas. In the early... Read More
$15 billion in aid. That's the amount the U.S. government announced on Monday for its producers through the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) as compensation for lost income stemming from the country's trade war with China. This is not the first, but the second round of aid given, as a trade agreement eludes U.S. President Trump... Read More