Those quick-burrowing, pesky nuisances known as gophers were a source of a good amount of lost canola yield in 2024. Some canola fields were devastated, requiring re-seeding, while a cereal field right next to the canola would go untouched, says Dr. James Tansey, provincial insect and vertebrate pest management specialist with the Ministry of Agriculture... Read More
Category: Crop Production
Micronutrients are a small ingredient in the crop nutrition recipe but farmers need to pay attention because deficiencies can produce a yield and profit hit. What's the best strategy for managing micros like boron, zinc, iron and manganese? Agronomy Advantage agronomist Deb Campbell says micronutrient management can be complex and confusing, but with the right... Read More
It's a long way from official, but a pre-election promise to boost AgriStability payout limits and speed-up payments could go forward to help farmers deal with tariff impacts. AJ Gill, national leader of ag risk management resources for MNP, says that it is definitely possible the increased cap and larger interim payment for the 2025... Read More
Growers looking to upgrade their John Deere planters can now get next level seed metering with the ExactEmerge and MaxEmerge 5e row unit kits. In this report from Commodity Classic in Denver, Colorado, Kyle Barry, Deere's manager of precision upgrades marketing, notes that the kits mean growers no longer have to purchase new row units... Read More
Mother Nature is taking her sweet time in bringing in spring, but slowly and surely we are marching towards putting crop in the ground. For this week's episode of Wheat Pete's Word, host Peter Johnson rifles through several agronomy answers, including: what to do with cover crops that didn't die, why sulphur matters and why... Read More
Soybeans pack plenty of yield punch. Georgia grower Alex Harrell offered proof of that again in 2024 when he smashed his previous yield record with a new harvest benchmark — a whopping 218 bushels per acre. Yield contests show the genetic potential of soybeans, but what's a realistic goal for growers as they continue to... Read More
Understanding what keeps beneficial insects thriving is just as important as what keeps pests at bay, but ideal conditions for parasitoids and predators aren't well understood. Abbe Pawluk used her masters studies at the University of Lethbridge to explore the impact on habitat quality on specific parasitoid wasps to try and gauge if certain types... Read More
A shorter, smaller, more efficient corn plant that stands better and produces less residue and higher yields: it's a lot to pack into a short corn plant, but that's the promise of Bayer's Preceon Smart Corn System. The company has been testing the short stature corn products in test plots for several years and plans... Read More
On this episode of The Agronomists, host Lyndsey Smith is joined by Tracey Baute with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness, and Tyler Wist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to discuss early season insect management. On the list: wireworm, cutworms, flea beetles, and slugs; plus we dig in to pre-seeding selection impacts on wheat... Read More
"It's literally costing me money now to seed canola... $200,000 that...[we] lost off of our canola, just like that, just due to the tariffs." This is the message that Christi Friesen of Rebellion Farms based out of Brownvale, Alta., wanted to get across to Premiere Danielle Smith in a recent post on X (see below).... Read More