Growing soybeans in Ontario in 2016 was a real nail biter. Even Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs soybean specialist Horst Bohner admits to being pretty nervous as the soybean crop struggled through a dry July. Many farmers were lucky when rains arrived in August, but a good portion of the province –... Read More

Seed companies are turning to new sources of resistance to protect canola against blackleg disease, as the pathogen population in Western Canada has adapted over the years. Until recently, most of the varieties marketed as "blackleg resistant" relied on what's known as the Rlm3 gene, explains Sakaria Liban, pathologist with DL Seeds, in this episode... Read More

Dairy Quality Inc. and its mobile milk testing device was the big winner at Ontario's 10th annual Premier's Awards for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence. Premier Kathleen Wynne presented the Premier’s award – the province’s highest honour for outstanding contributions in innovation to the agri-food sector – to the Newmarket-based company. Its mobile testing device helps dairy... Read More

New Holland has added some nutrient delivery innovation to its self-propelled sprayer line-up. Earlier this year, the company reached an agreement to give its sprayer customers access to the NutraBoss dual fertilizer placement tool. In this video interview from the 2016 Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, New Holland’s Jarrod Angstadt explains how the lightweight... Read More

Choosing the right genetics is the most important decision growers make when tackling leaf diseases such as northern corn leaf blight (NCLB). Fungicides applied in-season can provide both curative and preventative benefits, but the battle to fend off yield-robbing leaf diseases starts with your seed choice explains, OMAFRA field pathologist Albert Tenuta. In this episode... Read More

Update: The Canola Council of Canada has developed online calculators to determine your target plant density based on your individual field conditions, abilities and appetite for risk, as well as optimum seeding rate. You can find them at CanolaCalculator.ca. While the official industry recommendation for an optimal canola plant stand remains 7 to 10 plants... Read More

A new mobile app from Newmarket, Ontario-based Dairy Quality Inc. is turning iPhones and iPods into microscopes for dairy farmers. The company’s new Dairy Health Check device includes milk sampling slides that plug directly into the phone. This, combined with somatic cells count (SCC) and ketosis testing apps that analyze the samples, turn the phone... Read More

John Deere’s new intelligent nozzle control system promises to help sprayer operators maintain consistent droplet size and pattern through a range of speeds, while reducing overlaps, skips, and drift. The ExactApply system was unveiled earlier this year at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa. In this video, John Deere product manager Lydia Thomas explains... Read More

Duane Paton is considered one of the founding fathers of deep ripping in Ontario. The Mount Elgin based farmer purchased his first deep ripper – a Case IH ecolo-tiger 730B – back in 1998 and still uses the same unit today. In the latest instalment of our Tillage Talk video series Real Agriculture agronomist Peter... Read More