Category: Crop Schools

A cool, wet summer has left many Ontario soybean fields with some level of white mould infection. The fuzzy white stem rot could be seen in patches across many fields by late summer, sometimes causing large areas of loss in a field. A key element of controlling or avoiding this disease is understanding how it... Read More

For the lucky soybean growers who still have maturing and not frosted soybeans on their hands, this post on pre-harvest management of the crop is for you! (And for you farmers in the east stung by the September frost, we're sorry, and maybe keep all this info in mind for next year.) There are solid... Read More

Soybean growers in Western Canada and the Northern U.S. have been up early over the last few mornings checking how low temperatures dropped overnight. The thermometer has dipped below the freezing mark in some areas, with damage to soybeans depending on a number of factors, including maturity. As part of this Soybean School West episode,... Read More

In this Wheat School episode, Phil Needham, of Needham Ag Technologies, shows how farmers can use a heavy duty rubber mat and some math calculations to calibrate a box drill. This procedure is really good for double disk drills because they do an excellent job of confining the seeds as they are delivered between two... Read More

When it comes to planting no-till wheat, Phil Needham, of Needham Ag Technologies, says farmers need to think first about the combine before rolling out the drill. "You can buy the best piece of seeding equipment on the market, but it's only going to be as good as the residue management (in a no-till system)... Read More

So you're thinking of switching to a wider row spacing for next year's soybeans. Have you taken your hula hoop around this year's crop first? Though there isn't necessarily an "ideal" row spacing suggested for western Canadian soybean growers, the importance of knowing a target plant population and assessing stand establishment is still essential. Related:... Read More

With the canola crop maturing later than normal in parts of Western Canada, there’s some concern about frost hurting the crop. Temperatures dipped close to freezing in some parts of the Prairies earlier this week, with reports of light frost in northern Alberta. In this Canola School, Warren Ward, agronomy specialist for Eastern Saskatchewan with... Read More

With canola swathing underway across Western Canada, now is the time for growers to assess the toll that diseases have taken on the crop. The “what to look for” list at this time includes the main suspects: blackleg, sclerotinia and clubroot. In this episode of the Canola School, Keith Gabert of the Canola Council of... Read More

High disease levels have winter wheat growers in Western Canada concerned about the market prospects for the crop. Samples brought to elevators in some areas — especially central Manitoba — have contained up to 20 percent fusarium damaged kernels. Buyers have started discounting grain based on the related potential vomitoxin levels. So where will this... Read More

When a growing season doesn't go exactly as hoped — a late spring, a cool summer, too much rain — corn growers get understandably nervous. Corn is a C4 plant — it can tolerate hot weather and needs rather warm weather to grow, set yield and mature. As much of Ontario deals with "weird and... Read More