Soil preservation is gaining seatbelt and sugarless gum status in our society. It’s simply no longer optional. Some soil advocates are now calling for every agricultural grant application to have a tick box explaining how the proposed project exercises best soil management practices. No doubt, pressure is mounting to acknowledge the unparalleled role those first... Read More
Category: Crop Production
Everything old is new again. That’s certainly the case when it comes to interseeding cover crops into corn. In this episode of Real Agriculture's Corn School, University of Guelph-Ridgetown College researcher David Hooker unearths some historic evidence of Ontario farmers’ and researchers’ fascination with cover crops and their efforts to interseed them in growing cornfields.... Read More
Mario Tenuta has been studying greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture for longer than he's willing to admit. Never before has he seen this much interest in the topic. "We've always had interest in carbon sequestration and the use of nitrogen fertilizers and manures, but now where we are called to some form of action and... Read More
Corn is an attractive crop for cattle producers — as silage and as an extended or winter grazing option. But corn is also mighty pricey to grow, and can require new equipment to get it in the ground. Does grazing corn really pay? To find out, Shaun Haney met with Dr. Bart Lardner, with the... Read More
Arthur, Ontario farmer Carl Brubacker has had it with the plow. Over the years, Brubacker has seen too much erosion and watched his topsoil layer get thinner and thinner. “We try plowing shallower every year and we just keep bringing up stones.” Brubacker says plowing is not going to work long-term. “We’re looking for simplicity... Read More
Harvest is rocking and rolling for most corn and soybean growers in Ontario save for @WheatPete himself who took an equipment breakdown as a chance to get the Word done early this week. This week's Wheat Pete's Word covers a lot of ground, including the why behind high test weight corn, the nitrogen connection to... Read More
2016 was a good year to grow soybean varieties with strong genetic resistance to sudden death syndrome (SDS). Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs plant pathologist Albert Tenuta explains that this season’s cool, wet early growing conditions, which then gave way to drought in many regions of Ontario, helped the disease pack a... Read More
Is there a hierarchy of jobs on the farm? Especially at harvest, is the combine driver king/queen, with each supporting role moving down the totem pole? We're half-kidding, of course, but recently there's been some (mostly in fun) banter about who does what at harvest, like this: Harvest Facts The Combine Operator is a psychopath.... Read More
If a corn plant emerges one, two, or three days after its neighbour, will it yield less? We’re about to find out as Corn School makes its first return visit to the flag test that Real Agriculture resident agronomist Peter Johnson planted this spring. National Corn Growers Association yield contest champion Randy Dowdy, who harvested... Read More
The Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC) has announced, Chinese company Yantai Hyaline Malting Co., Ltd. as a new member. Hyaline Malting is the third company from China to join the CMBTC in the last three years, says the CMBTC. China is an important market for Canadian malt barley, as, in 2015/16, China’s malt barley... Read More