Category: Crop Schools

What can corn growers expect from the markets in 2019? In Ontario, will sufficient markets be found for high DON corn? After three years of sideways trade, will world markets finally break the mold and push corn higher?On this edition of RealAgriculture’s Corn School, host Bernard Tobin travels to the ‘Agridome’ at Dresden, Ontario to… Read More

There is a nondescript building in the north end of Saskatoon that produces live organisms that are shipped around the world to help plants feed themselves and produce grain. It takes some management to make sure the live organisms make it to their destination – farmer’s fields – healthy and vibrant, so they can get… Read More

The 2018 Ontario soybean crop is one for the record books, but you never would have predicted that back in July when much of the crop was desperate for rain.Not only did the 2018 Ontario crop set a record yield average at 54 bu/ac, it smashed the previous record of 48.3 set in 2012 by… Read More

The 2018 Ontario soybean harvest got off to a roaring start in early fall but quickly ground to a halt as poor weather parked combines. In early December, many growers are still struggling to bin their beans.The wet weather has left growers asking how they can manage higher moisture, wet soybeans. Management decisions are critical,… Read More

There are a number of reasons why herbicides sometimes fail to control weeds.Perhaps surprisingly, one of the easier things to rule out is whether the weed is herbicide resistant. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs weed specialist Mike Cowbrough says many universities across Canada conduct testing for herbicide resistance, but growers have to… Read More

Thousands of acres of Ontario corn will have to be destroyed this fall due to high DON levels.A big challenge growers face when destroying those acres now and into winter is ensuring volunteer corn doesn’t make a mess of next year’s soybean crop.In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Corn School, our resident agronomist Peter Johnson looks… Read More

A hot, dry early summer encouraged some rarely seen insects to set up shop in corn fields in 2018.Steph Kowalski, agronomy lead for the Agromart Group in eastern Canada, admits she was surprised by the number of reports of thrips in corn crops in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces this year.Thrips are generally considered a… Read More

Nature is pretty amazing, but that wonder and adaptability can translate to a huge problem in a crop. Wireworms, for example, can determine they don’t like what is on the menu when you seed your crop in the spring, wait until the following spring, and attack a more vulnerable crop instead. What’s more, they can… Read More

In any industry, you can go backwards by merely standing still. In research, even something as traditional as wheat research, the same is true. You have to keep moving forward or other players will pass you and your innovations will be obsolete before they even get out of the laboratory. Luckily for Canadian farmers, there… Read More

How can growers adjust their combines to reduce vomitoxin levels when harvesting the 2018 crop?RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson has some answers. In this episode of Real Agriculture’s Corn School, Johnson visits with custom combine operator David Killins, of Killins Custom work, at Dorchester, Ontario.Johnson acknowledges that while cleaning corn does help, it’s not realistic that… Read More