There's a reason it's called the yellow death: stripe rust can spread quickly and kill off huge sections of a wheat field. Even after an effective fungicide application, the yellowing will continue to expand for a few days while the product takes effect. It's this aggressive spread pattern that has Peter "Wheat Pete" Johnson warning... Read More
Category: Eastern Canada
After a stretch of cool, wet weather many corn fields across Ontario have turned yellow, and growers are asking whether it's safe to spray the stressed plants. Retired University of Guelph weed scientist Dr. Peter Sikkema says the reason that corn is tolerant to many herbicides is its ability to rapidly metabolize those herbicides. However,... Read More
When it comes to cover crops in Ontario, the three leading options for farmers tend to be red clover frost-seeded into wheat, oats after wheat, and the versatile cereal rye, which fits lots of spots that call for cover. There are also a host of other cover crops that make up multiple species mixes, as... Read More
Stripe rust has been confirmed in the Ontario winter wheat crop. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness plant pathologist Albert Tenuta shared the news at the Ridgetown agribusiness breakfast meeting this week. The disease can cause up to 50 per cent yield loss if not managed properly. It was confirmed after samples collected by... Read More
The polls didn’t lie—at least not the ones from Abacus Data. But while the overall results may have fallen within the expected margin, the 2025 federal election revealed deep and persistent divides in Canada’s political geography and voter demographics. In this one-on-one interview with RealAgriculture’s Shaun Haney, David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, breaks down... Read More
Canada’s latest federal election may have left the Liberals with a minority (as of press time), but it also deepened political fractures that could complicate national governance and policy. In this discussion, RealAg Radio host Shaun Haney is joined by Kelvin Heppner to break down how regional divides influenced the election outcome — and what... Read More
As wheat crops across Ontario break dormancy and get growing in earnest, farmers and agronomists need to be on alert for symptoms of micronutrient deficiencies — particularly manganese. On this week’s Agronomic Monday edition of RealAg Radio, Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson dug deep into why manganese matters, why timing is critical when correcting a deficiency,... Read More
From the theatre stage to the field, Wheat Pete, host of Wheat Pete's Word, brings it all this week—sharing lessons in mental and physical health, crop nutrition, soil moisture management, and the all-important “when” of fertilizer applications. There’s a discussion on early wheat scouting, drainage success stories, and an update on the elusive daikon-loving slugs.... Read More
Top-ups to the cash advance and AgriStability programs for farmers are nice, but they don't go far enough in mitigating the impact of China's retaliatory tariffs against Canadian agricultural exports, according to the executive director of Grain Growers of Canada. "What producers are looking for — this is what I'm hearing from most grain farmers... Read More
There's plenty to see and learn at the Canadian Dairy XPO as the annual dairy industry showcase gets set to open its doors at the Stratford Rotary Complex in Ontario on April 2 and 3. It's the first CDX since the show was acquired last September by DLG — the German agricultural society that organizes... Read More