Peter Johnson, wheat specialist with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, made quite the splash at Farm Tech last week. A regular in RealAgricutlure.com's Wheat School, @WheatPete (as he's known on Twitter) has very set views on maximizing wheat production, and he's not afraid to tell a farmer, point blank, what that farmer... Read More
Category: Crop Production
Fusarium head blight. It's one nasty disease that most of the Prairies was happy to consider a southern Manitoba problem. The troubling reality, however, is that the disease has been steadily marching west for quite some time, and while it's not news that the disease has been found in Alberta and Saskatchewan, the incidence of... Read More
It's easy to see what's going on with your corn crop above ground. You can see things like changes in colour, difference in height, physical damage. When it comes to a diagnosis however, in most cases it pays to start looking underground. Root analysis can keep you from throwing good money after bad. Adding nutrients... Read More
Earlier this week, I lined up an interview with Dr. Jeannie Gilbert, a plant pathologist at AAFC's Cereal Research Centre, Winnipeg, Man. I wanted to speak with her about the threat of fusarium head blight for 2013 and what farmers can do now to prevent or manage the disease. When I arrived, I soon learned... Read More
If every product added the "2 or 3 bushels per acre" promised, every farmer would easily have 400 bushel corn or 100 bushel canola. While there's no doubt that crop protection and fertility products add value, not all products are created equal, and the benefits are most certainly not cumulative. Even the most basic of... Read More
Results of a germination test are a must-have before heading to the field in the spring, but what about a vigour test? When should you order one and why? Holly Gelech, business development manager with Biovision Seed Labs, walks us through the major differences between the two tests, and how vigour tests may differ between... Read More
Any farmer who loves a good list missed out on one fantastic presentation by Ken Ferrie at the recent CornSmart conference held recently at Guelph, Ont. Drawing conclusions from the 2012 growing season, Ferrie, an independent agronomist with Crop-Tech Consulting, ran through the seven key areas of corn production management where he feels farmers need... Read More
Rain or shine, drought or not, nitrogen is king when it comes to targeting the highest yields possible in corn. While it may not be a surprise that even in a dry year corn responds to added nitrogen, there's still work to be done on the economic levels of that response with environmental stewardship in... Read More
Saskatchewan forage industry members will work together to develop and implement a strategy to improve the sector's competitiveness and to ensure its long-term prosperity with the help of federal government funding announced this week. Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz was on hand this week to announce a $148,000 investment to help the Saskatchewan Forage Council... Read More
The Canadian pulse industry can be proud of what it has accomplished in a relatively short time. From a tiny slice of the acres, to a set crop in many farmers' rotation, pulses are a made-in-Canada success story. SEE MORE PULSE SCHOOL EPISODES Pulse growers have enjoyed steady growth of their industry and international markets... Read More