Increasing nitrogen rates can actually prove detrimental if producers don't also take the time to apply fungicides, says Peter Johnson, cereals specialist with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. That's because the resulting improvements in canopy can actually increase the potential for disease development. Enter the nitrogen/fungicide duo. "That synergy is so significant," says... Read More
Category: Video
Dr. Stephen Koontz, of Colorado State University, is shining a light on a rather complicated, but incredibly important part of how cattle prices are currently set. Markets and marketing evolves over time, and the cattle industry is no different. Koontz says that the strong transition from a negotiated cash trade, to formula and forward pricing... Read More
This year, Farming Smarter brought some very powerful keynote speakers to Medicine Hat for the 2014 Farming Smarter Conference. Speakers included Michael Shermer, the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine and the executive director of the Skeptics Society; William W. Wilson, a professor at North Dakota State University; Trish Sahlstrom, vice president of purchasing and distribution... Read More
A combination of a poor malt barley crop this year and a longer-term downward trend in malt barley acres is leading North American maltsters and brewers to import more barley from Europe. An estimated 70 to 80 percent of the barley crop in Western Canada was hit by rain or snow just prior to harvest,... Read More
Mixing alfalfa and sainfoin for a pasture stand has potential, as research scientists pointed out last week at the Western Canadian Grazing Conference in Edmonton. Sainfoin is a perennial forage legume. It was introduced to North America from Europe and Asia in the late 1800s and has since been used for both grazing and hay.... Read More
The day when unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used for spraying fields in North America could be here sooner than we expect. In fact, for small acres, that day may have already arrived. Several spraying units made by a Swift Current-based RotorSpray attracted plenty of attention at Farm Forum in Saskatoon earlier this month. The... Read More
One of the leading causes of herbicide injury in canola is insufficient sprayer cleaning, says Clark Brenzil, provincial weed control specialist for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. Whether due to drift or residue, herbicide injury can result in drastic yield losses, besides being an eye-sore to drive by. Related: Spray Tips with Tom Wolf —... Read More
Checking nozzles on the sprayer for uniformity can prove rather tedious, as it often means clambering up and down sprayer steps to turn booms on and off, and running behind the sprayer to take a look, all while attempting to avoid drift. SprayTest Controls Inc. has changed that process, with the remote boom control system.... Read More
What’s the danger of building regulations on a “precautionary principle?” Is the Ontario government’s push to regulate neonicotinoids moving too quickly? That’s part of the discussion that Real Agriculture’s Bernard Tobin had with Paul Wettlaufer and Mark Wales, both of whom are farmers and directors with Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA). In the interview below... Read More
Two webex meetings and two in-person public consultation meetings took place in Ontario this week. At issue is the proposed increased regulation of neonicotinoid seed treatments for corn and soybean crops. Real Agriculture’s Bernard Tobin attended the London meeting on Tuesday (you can hear a recap of the event here), and spoke with Steve Klose,... Read More