Reading Time: 4 minutes Much anticipation always arrives with each new growing season. Successes are kept in perspective while past challenges are minimized, and the promise of a fresh start is enticing, if not a small source of anxiety. It’s much the same for a product launch: there’s the potential to help growers enhance their crop production, whether it’s […] Read more
A new insecticide for soybean aphids
Sefina’s control of soybean aphids differs from other products
Definitely the road less travelled
Taking to organic in crops and in hogs takes trust, vision and teamwork
Reading Time: 7 minutes Brett Israel is looked upon as a young, entrepreneurial producer with one eye firmly fixed on the road ahead, while honouring and respecting those who have come before him. It can be a bit of a tightrope walk for Israel, whose family has been farming on the same concession in Wellington County for six generations. […] Read more
‘My sprayer’s a mess’
In the new era of weed resistance, your risk of a plugged tank or boom is climbing
Reading Time: 7 minutes There may be no better phrase that symbolizes agriculture than “timing is everything.” Planting, fertilizing and harvesting are obvious fits, but the term also applies to pesticide applications, planter preparations and seed purchases. Another area where timing is important is in the mixing of chemicals, although some may argue that it’s more a matter of […] Read more
A new yield genetics
A distant soybean relative may open the door to even higher yields
Reading Time: 4 minutes For years, there’s been a concern that soybean breeding somehow lags behind that of corn, and that for some reason soybean breeders haven’t been working as hard to raise their yields as corn breeders. It’s a debate that arises primarily from comparisons of trend-line yields in corn versus soybeans in the past 30 years. And […] Read more
Sharing the lessons learned on dicamba in soybeans
Misconceptions about the power of the technology remain, in spite of some harsh in-field realities
Reading Time: 5 minutes When Xtend soybeans were showcased at the 2015 Canada Outdoor Farm Show, there was great fanfare but also a considerable amount of caution accompanying the technology’s unveiling. Yes, it was the next in a series of herbicide-tolerant technologies, launched at a time of growing concern over glyphosate-tolerant weed species. It was believed that the newer […] Read more
China trade
Will the friction between China and Donald Trump create real opportunities for Canadian soybean growers?
Reading Time: 7 minutes In today’s world, the news headlines that we read in the morning can be turned on their head that afternoon, which is why being able to differentiate what is really newsworthy from what’s just background noise is becoming a critical success factor for farmers. On the trade front, ongoing tensions between the U.S. and China […] Read more
What’s good about soil?
Soil health indicators often relate to properties that you can’t see
Reading Time: 6 minutes We’re planting more cover crops, we’ve got a heightened focus on soil organic matter levels, and now we’re adopting what’s thought to be a relatively new term: soil health indicators. They’re each part of a wave that’s been building, reflecting a renewed interest in the soil as the basis for all crop production. “It’s been […] Read more
Precision ‘agronomy’
Precision ag is rapidly evolving, with an emerging suite of benefits for producers
Reading Time: 7 minutes Has any segment of agri-food changed as much in the past 10 years as precision ag? What is certain is that the science’s power to extrapolate data points, generate better maps, recommend specific courses of action and lead growers to higher revenues is unparalleled. The challenge though is still the same: Where to start? For […] Read more
Admitting you have a mental health problem
Learn to look in the mirror… really look. Dealing with stress and anxiety may never be easy, but it helps if you’re alert for these warning signs
Reading Time: 6 minutes For several years, Wayne Black couldn’t see what was happening. He drove himself to be better as a farmer and then, when he became a sales manager at a central Ontario farm input dealership, he was always striving for the highest results for his customers. But early in 2018, he began to notice that he […] Read more
Soybean cyst nematode tough in dry beans too
The pest can be especially devastating in certain classes of edible beans
Reading Time: 6 minutes It’s a case of “something old, something new” for growers with edible beans. Soybean cyst nematode (SCN) is now a threat to producers with cranberry beans, white beans, kidneys and adzukis. Nematodes have been affecting soybean production in parts of Ontario since the late 1980s, and now it appears they have the capacity to weaken […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
