In this episode of the Corn School, Real Agriculture resident agronomist Peter Johnson goes cover crop crazy. Standing in a residue-covered cornfield, Johnson sounds off on growers who insist on chopping corn stalks: “What a labour intensive, fuel expensive, ridiculous thing to do – it makes no sense whatsoever.” What makes better sense for growers,... Read More
Category: Video
Farmers are dealt a hand of cards each year. There are cards of fortune and cards of misfortune. Maybe it's a wet spring or corn prices below $4/bu or skyrocketing fertilizer costs. Maybe you get all three in the same hand. A farmer can't always choose what they're dealt, but they can choose how to... Read More
Placing fertilizer where it needs to go can prove challenging, especially along roads, fencerows and bending contours of a field. But navigating fields and hitting the spot should be easier with the new Javelin sectional spreader from Salford BBI. “It’s the first precision spreader on the North American market to achieve a true 120-foot spread... Read More
Do you know which fields make you money and which ones don't? At what point in the year do you sit down and determine what your breakeven costs are for a specific piece of land? The FieldValues app was designed to help farmers keep information about costs and break-even prices current throughout the growing season.... Read More
John Deere continues to update its online tools to give farmers easier access to information to manage their operations. The latest updates to the John Deere Operations Center were unveiled at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky, in February. The Operations Center allows users to see performance over time and collaborate with partners... Read More
Krone's Premos 5000 won an innovation gold at Agritechnica this year. It's the world's first mobile pellet harvester, and, according to Krone, it uses just half the energy of its stationary counterparts. Pellets can be made of straw or forage crops, and can be used in bedding, as part of a total mixed ration, or... Read More
Keeping kids safe on farms is the theme for this year's Canadian Ag Safety Week, which runs March 13th to 19th. One incident involving children is too many, and yet we continue to hear tragic stories. In support of the Canadian Ag Safety Association's Ag Safety Week, Dow AgroSciences developed this "Stop & Ask" video,... Read More
As soybeans are introduced and grown more frequently in rotations that already include canola in Western Canada, growers may find their soil bank accounts for phosphorus and potassium running low. Both canola and soybeans are heavy users/removers of P and K, explains Laryssa Grenkow of Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers in this Canola School episode,... Read More
What a difference a year makes. Back in spring 2015, Ontario farmers were scrambling to manage an abundance of corn stalk residue and grappling with questions about tillage and how to fix fields full of ruts caused by a challenging harvest. Fast forward to spring 2016 and farmers are facing a much more favourable planting... Read More
Predicting insect outbreaks isn't an easy task, as we learned from insect management specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Scott Meers. Even small changes to what was expected from the weather can skew data. But, understanding forecasts and what impacts populations can certainly help farmers get a better idea of when and where to focus... Read More