If you've ever adopted a new way of doing things after attending a field day or conference, do you let the researcher or extension staff know? Sometimes, research can be a rather thankless job, and many researchers don't hear back on their work being applied on-farm. Peter "Wheat Pete" Johnson came across just such an... Read More
Category: Crop Production
Knowing your soil and accepting your climatic challenges for what they are is key to choosing the right crops, cover crops, and soil amendments that will perform best. That said, sometimes it takes a major event to push for significant changes to the current status quo. Jenn Doelman farms at Douglas, Ont., and is a... Read More
Growing pulses in 2019 was a challenge across the board. The growing conditions that were needed simply were not there, especially in the areas that saw a lot of rain. Robyne Bowness Davidson, pulse research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, says that due to all of said moisture, a lot of the pulses such... Read More
Kinze' new high-speed planting system will allow growers to plant at speeds of up to 12 miles per hour when it hits farmer fields in 2021. Dubbed as "True Speed" by the manufacturer, the system will be available with Kinze’s new 4905 planter for corn and soybeans. Last week at the National Farm Machinery Show... Read More
Tar spot, a new corn leaf disease, has moved through the U.S. Midwest, into Michigan and Wisconsin, and now sits at the doorstep of Ontario's corn growing region. Characterized by tar-like speckling on the upper surface of corn leaves, the fungal pathogen has been delivering yield hits ranging from 20 to 60 bushels per acre... Read More
Spring is coming, and it always seems to creep up a little quicker than anticipated. After the year that was 2019, many producers are wondering how they are going to best deal with their soils moving into the season. Many across the Prairies that traditionally put down fall fertilizer or do tillage operations in the... Read More
Data collected between 2008 and 2015 by Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp suggests many farmers in the province are using tight rotations, or no rotation at all (coyly referred to as a "canola-snow" rotation). "The tight rotations that we are talking about — canola, wheat, canola, wheat — are in the northeast of the province and... Read More
A Manitoba tile drainage pipe-manufacturing facility is back in the hands of its original owners. Winkler, Man.-based Precision Land Solutions (PLS) announced today that it has re-acquired the high density polyethylene pipe-making plant at Winkler from Prinsco, which has operated pipe-manufacturing facilities across the U.S. since the 1970s. PLS originally established the plant in 2012,... Read More
Wide vs. narrow rows — which is best for top yields? As always, it depends. It depends on the crop you're growing, your climate, and the architecture of the variety or hybrid you choose. There are other factors too, as discussed in this episode of Wheat Pete's Word, with host Peter Johnson. Available equipment, what... Read More
The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) recently named Anne Loeffler as its 2020 Soil Champion. The award, which recognizes leaders in sustainable soil management, was presented to Loeffler for her encouragement of adoption of on-farm water quality improvement practices in the Grand River watershed. “The region has a large diversity of farmers and... Read More