When Dave Van Belle hears the word 'sustainability' the first two things that come to his mind are environmental sustainability and economic sustainability. The two go hand in hand, says the president of Van Belle Nursery, a family-owned wholesale nursery located just north of Abbotsford, B.C. Over the last 50 years the business has grown... Read More
Category: Video
The time is coming when farmers will check an in-field diagnostic tool for presence of a disease or insect and know it's time to apply a crop protection product. We're not exactly there yet, but sensor technology and apps are advancing to the point where it's possible to get diagnostics on a field-by-field basis. One... Read More
When out walking corn fields, growers will often come across what look like branches off of the main stalk of the plants. Tillers can be found on many grass plants, and while being an essential part of other crops, producers often do not know what to make of seeing them in their corn crop. In... Read More
Big corn acres in the U.S. and dandy looking crops in the west have created a bit of a supply issue for markets, one that could be helped by some serious export demand. Whether or not that demand materializes as prices fall is the billion dollar question. For this early July grain market update, we... Read More
Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous move quite differently though the soil, and understanding how they travel is key to helping growers choose the best application strategies. Phosphorous, for example, tends to be more like a tortoise, moving slowly and methodically. Nitrogen, on the other hand, is the hare, racing quickly through the plant root... Read More
To pulse producers, grasshoppers represent both a significant challenge and a potential threat. With last year being hot and dry across the Prairies, growers are wondering what the current growing season will hold for these resilient crop consumers. Farmers and agronomists alike hope that the cool, wet spring might keep pulse crops safe from the... Read More
Proper staging is important for understanding how to scout and manage corn, whether for timing fertilizer, herbicide, insecticide or fungicide applications. It's also critical for understanding plant development, and how stressors at different stages can affect results, including yield, cob size, and kernel weight. But the problem is there are multiple ways to measure corn's... Read More
When all the policy focus on a changing climate has been on slowing or stopping the change from happening, a second aspect has been largely ignored: adaptation. That's the subject of a new policy concepts paper, "Climate Change in Canadian Agriculture: The Context and the Evidence Demonstrate that Policy Should Refocus on Adaptation," penned by... Read More
The beast is back! Ontario's winter wheat crop has high yield potential but there are also high levels of yield robbing fusarium in fields in some regions of the province. Real Agriculture agronomist Peter 'Wheat Pete' Johnson says it's not as bad as 1996 when fusarium decimated the provincial winter wheat crop, but growers will... Read More
Work for the growing season doesn't end with seeding. Soon after, it's important to be out doing early season scouting in order to mitigate potential issues. There are two main things that a producer is looking for when early season scouting: one is to measure the success of the seeding operation, including how many plants... Read More