The long-term strategy for P management relies on building, maintaining or depleting soil P, based on soil test P concentration. Medium (M) would be around 15 ppm. High (H) would be around 30 ppm. Source: “4R Management of Phosphorus Fertilizer in the Northern Great Plains: A Review of the Scientific Literature,” by Cindy Grant and Don Flaten.

Phosphorus 101: The basic BMPs

Here are the basic best management practices for phosphorus fertilizer

Reading Time: 3 minutes Soil tests The Olsen (bicarb) test is effective across a wide range of soils, including the high pH calcareous soils common in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, while the Bray test is effective only in neutral to lower pH non-calcareous soils, as are found in parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Kelowna and modified Kelowna tests are also […] Read more

CBOT May 2020 soybeans with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soy, wheat book multi-month lows

Financial markets continue to drag commodities lower

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. grain and soybean futures sank to multi-month lows on Monday on worries about the coronavirus pandemic denting the global economy and chilling end-user demand for commodities, traders said. “The fear is still that it will only get worse as the week unfolds,” said Mark Schultz, chief analyst at Northstar Commodity […] Read more


CBOT May 2020 wheat with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat firm, corn flat as financial markets steady

CBOT soybean futures sag

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures closed fractionally higher on Friday and corn ended flat, stabilizing as wider financial markets regained some ground after plummeting on fears of the economic fallout from the global coronavirus outbreak. But soybean futures fell, hitting life-of-contract lows as crop weather in South America improved, bolstering expectations of large […] Read more

CBOT May 2020 corn with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soy drop to six-month lows

Wider markets sell-off continues

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybean futures fell to six-month lows on Thursday as another rout on Wall Street underscored uncertainty about economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic as well as demand for agricultural commodities, analysts said. Wheat futures followed the weak trend. Chicago Board of Trade May corn settled down 8-3/4 cents […] Read more


Researchers are assessing the benefits of crops seeded into potato hills, similar to this nurse crop in carrots.

Call in a nurse. A “nurse” crop that is

A second crop planted along with potatoes protects the soil and boosts yields

Reading Time: 3 minutes Recent years have seen increased attention on the health of the soil used in potato production, and attempts to bring potatoes into longer rotations with other crops. In the Maritimes, seed companies are promoting soybeans or corn as rotational options and McCain has developed one- and two-year multi-species cover crop blends to help boost organic […] Read more



(Ablokhin/iStock Editorial/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: Markets focused on virus, oil prices, stocks

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — From where Steve Georgy sits, commodity markets such as the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) are currently focused on only three things. One is the COVID-19 coronavirus — specifically, how the global outbreak affects commodity markets, especially if it results in “the slowing down the movement of grain, the slowing down the movement […] Read more

CBOT May 2020 wheat with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, wheat decline as Wall Street tumbles

Chicago soy turns lower

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago corn and wheat futures declined on Wednesday, following as Wall Street equity markets fell sharply on fears of the coronavirus causing a global recession and a lack of immediate U.S. measures to counter the economic fallout. Soybean futures turned lower, erasing early advances tied to a pick-up in export demand […] Read more


Pinto beans. (Vergani_Fotografia/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Bids underpin Manitoba edible bean area

Province's soybean acres expected to fall

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Solid prices should keep Manitoba farmers growing edible beans in 2020, although soybean area will likely drop, according to a provincial specialist. Disappointing harvest weather in 2019 hurt yields and cut into harvested area for edible beans in both Manitoba and across the border in the United States. As a result, prices heading […] Read more

(USDA.gov via Flickr)

USDA’s supply and demand report largely stands pat

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Any changes in the latest monthly supply and demand report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday were few and far in between when it came to corn, wheat and soybeans; what the markets largely expected. However, there were some small revisions to the department’s global projections. That meant USDA’s March […] Read more