A hot, dry early summer encouraged some rarely seen insects to set up shop in corn fields in 2018. Steph Kowalski, agronomy lead for the Agromart Group in eastern Canada, admits she was surprised by the number of reports of thrips in corn crops in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces this year. Thrips are generally... Read More
Category: Crop Production
He sings, he dances, and he hosts a weekly agronomy podcast — the multi-talented Peter "Wheat Pete" Johnson is back for this week's edition of Wheat Pete's Word, and we've got some major miles to cover on destroying a corn crop effectively. It's heartbreaking, of course, but Agricrop is releasing some acres to be destroyed.... Read More
A year in to a trying time for pulse movement into India, and there are some reports of a slight uptick in Canadian tonnage moving in to the country. It's not that the tariff or fumigation situation is resolved — instead, reports of dry local conditions could be putting a damper on domestic production. Regardless... Read More
Nature is pretty amazing, but that wonder and adaptability can translate to a huge problem in a crop. Wireworms, for example, can determine they don't like what is on the menu when you seed your crop in the spring, wait until the following spring, and attack a more vulnerable crop instead. What's more, they can... Read More
The news Lawrence MacAulay, Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has announced a federal investment of up to $5 million to the Automation Cluster led by the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre Inc. The funding is provided under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The funding will be used to address current and anticipated labour challenges within... Read More
When precision agriculture concepts were first introduced, fields with high variability were seen as the natural first choice on which to deploy the technology. As precision technology has evolved, improved, and become more efficient, it's much easier to make a business case for its use on nearly every acre. "All land, all farmland has a... Read More
From beginning with just small test plots, to having more than half of their current land base as an intercrop, the Whites say their farming journey has been all about learning from nature. Fifth generation farmers, Brooks and Jen White call the deep southwest corner of Manitoba — near the town of Pierson — home.... Read More
Air suspension systems are common on vehicles. They provide all kinds of advantages over other systems, including the potential for a wide variety of height adjustments. They can also be a really good fit on a piece of equipment where you might not expect to find them — headers, for example. Honey Bee Manufacturing has... Read More
Plants communicate. So much so, that they actually sense weed competition and reduce yield potential even before they emerge from the ground. It may sound like science fiction, but it's just one of the many scientific facts that University of Guelph weed scientist Dr. Clarence Swanton has helped prove during his 35-year career. Over the... Read More
A difficult harvest will push farmers to figure out ways to allow a little more harvesting done or protect what is already in the bin. Getting grain fit to store safely is always a challenge, but if a dryer is at capacity or not an option, can supplemental heat be enough? Rene Deschamps, with Ag... Read More