Alfalfa is so cool, it can run ice in its "veins." Or at least, that's the best explanation we've got for the crop making it through extremely cold weather earlier this month. In this week's Wheat Pete's Word, host Peter Johnson discusses both alfalfa and wheat's adaptability, swapping corn varieties based on the calendar, inoculating... Read More
Category: Crop Production
It's time for a very spring edition of RealAg LIVE! Q&A and for it, we've go the crowd-pleasing Peter "Wheat Pete" Johnson to talk about, well, just about everything. Check out the summary and video below! The best thing we can have at seeding and planting is a drought. And for eastern Ontario, they're looking... Read More
When winter kill makes it tough to grow alfalfa, what can dairy producers turn to for a protein source for milking cows? Believe it or not, forage soybeans may be a fit. That choice is gaining popularity with dairy farmers in eastern Ontario. "It's hard to beat good alfalfa from a protein-grown-on-the-farm standpoint, but the... Read More
By Michael von Massow The Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) recently launched an advertising campaign to lobby for federal support for grains and oilseeds producers. There has been considerable discussion in social media and other fora regarding financial support for the Canadian agricultural sector. Many groups were disappointed with the size of the federal government... Read More
When it comes to stress on a canola crop, there are two 'buckets' that it can fall into: abiotic stress and biotic stress. Biotic stressors can include things such as harmful insects — flea beetles, for example — and abiotic stressors have to do with factors dealing with the environment, such as frost. This time... Read More
If the U.S. hemp industry was a child, it'd be a toddler. That's a far cry for Canada's pre-teen industry, but the hemp and CBD industry in both countries are still a long way from full-grown. Kristen Nichols, editor of Hemp Industry Daily, knows the ins and outs of the U.S. hemp industry and says... Read More
How many crop heat units (CHU) does corn need to emerge? That's a question many growers are asking as their corn seed shivers through the cold spring 2020 growing conditions. On this episode of RealAgriculture's Corn School, we put that question to Dale Cowan, AGRIS Co-operative agronomist. He says that corn seed typically requires 165... Read More
Soybean growers in many regions were teased with an early spring, only to have the weather turn very cold for at least two weeks. Some growers are getting worried about the cold soil conditions and overall cool weather that may have knocked the crop back. To answer questions about cold weather and general soybean agronomy,... Read More
When it comes to emergence of the wheat crop, producers often have many hopes of what that should look like — without necessarily knowing how to manage those expectations. Often, stand emergence is judged on seedling vigour. However, as Jeremy Boychyn, agronomy research extension specialist with the Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions explains in this... Read More
The weather feels more like mid-April than mid-May, and many farmers in Ontario are worried about corn and soybean seed in the ground and wheat heads above ground. There are reasons to be concerned, as nighttime temperatures over the last week have dipped very low and sometimes for the entire night. In this week's Wheat... Read More