Reading Time: 4 minutes Across much of Western Canada, corn is using the impressive results of the last five years as a springboard to become a go-to crop on even more farms. So despite this year’s pricing worries, and despite all the talk of a potential over-supply of the crop, it’s a choice that more growers are loyal to. […] Read more
What’s new in corn hybrids
More and more hybrids specifically targeted at the West
What’s the deal with soil compaction?
Other countries are tackling compaction head on. Here, there’s hardly a whisper
Reading Time: 7 minutes Compaction has somehow become one of those topics that gets scooped up off the back-burner from time to time. It gets discussed and sometimes it even gets preached about, and then it fades away again until next time. It isn’t a new topic. Nor is it particularly controversial. Everyone agrees that compaction causes damage to […] Read more
Committed to better decisions
Trevor Cunning tinkers, tweets and tightens his schedule to stay ahead
Reading Time: 6 minutes Go ahead, just ask him. Trevor Cunning will share almost anything he knows about farming and his farm. He even calls himself an “open book” and he says there’s little to hide about the family’s Starhill Farms operation in the Ottawa Valley, between Vankleek Hill and St-Eugène. Cunning and his father Allen — who began […] Read more
A healthier soil test
Is it time to start investing in the Solvita soil test for your farm?
Reading Time: 6 minutes It’s a curious trend. “Soil health” is one of the great buzz phrases of modern agriculture. Admittedly, it’s just words to some, yet for a dedicated and growing number of producers, it’s a primary goal. Yet if you ask the average farmer if they test their soil once every three years, as recommended, the answer […] Read more
Getting down to biology
Finally there may be a soil test to help you see your soil the way that your crop’s roots see it
Reading Time: 8 minutes Soil health is on everyone’s mind these days. Perhaps it’s tied to volatility in the commodity markets, or to the risk of consumer and government scrutiny. Or maybe more growers are interested in “doing things right.” No matter the cause, there’s a long list of farm professionals welcoming the trend with open arms. “Ultimately, the […] Read more
New in winter cereal varieties
The long-term outlook for cereal yields is up. Here’s why
Reading Time: 4 minutes We might refer to the category as “winter cereals” but everyone knows winter wheat is the undisputed leader in the field, and the picture for the crop took an even more positive turn late in 2015. An early soybean harvest and a long, warm fall, plus a greater commitment to longer rotations, made for an […] Read more
Pearce: Precipitation maps have Ontario farmers seeing red
Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s official: Spring 2016 will go down as an excessively dry season for Ontario growers — and most hope the summer will be considerably wetter. Last week, we cited reports of stressed-but-surviving corn and soybean crops in midwestern Ontario, which had received spotty showers early in the week. The crops were showing signs of drought-stress […] Read more
Pearce: Ontario corn, soy look good despite dryness
Reading Time: 3 minutes One part of Ontario is wilting under the absence of moisture, another part is… managing. As farmers in eastern Ontario look to the skies and the long-term forecasts for rainfall and relief, their colleagues in some parts of southern Ontario are doing a little better — concerned, but making do. Regions north of Toronto and […] Read more
Pearce: Eastern Ontario weather challenges corn, soybeans
Reading Time: 2 minutes Times are tough for corn and soybean growers across parts of Ontario, with reports of wrapped leaves and low moisture levels. Hardest hit are the areas north of Toronto, through parts of Niagara and across eastern Ontario, where moisture levels in some locations are less than half of normal levels for May through to late […] Read more
Four growers who believe in inter-seeding into standing corn
"It’s something that we have to start doing and advertising to the consumer," Gerard Grubb, Mildmay farmer
Reading Time: 11 minutes As trends go, this one is picking up steam. Two years ago, it seemed a novelty. You were lucky to see it outside of a few test locations such as at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, although there were also isolated growers who had become believers, especially in Quebec. Today, the movement has clearly spread, not […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
