Reading Time: 6 minutes Soybean production in the past 10 years has undergone a radical transformation at both ends of the statistical spectrum. On the positive side, yields are up, and so is the frequency of getting unexpectedly good crops. Unfortunately, what we get on one hand, we can lose with the other, and the yield losses where weeds, […] Read more
Getting that extra 15 per cent from your soybean yields
More intensive soybean production can pay off with solid per-acre returns
Getting back into Toledo
IP premiums for soft red and other wheats may open doors to make both reds and white more profitable
Reading Time: 4 minutes In Eastern Canada, if you hear the phrase “identity preserved” or “IP,” it’s almost always in connection with soybeans. And that’s only fair, given the importance of that market. But increasingly, “IP wheat” is also becoming part of the jargon. In 2015, the soft red winter wheat variety Branson seemed to be the hot commodity […] Read more
Galega — a new forage import from Eastern Europe
Tests at the Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Station suggest it could be a high-yielding option for Eastern Canada
Reading Time: 4 minutes If lower commodity prices have proved anything, it’s that the search in Eastern Canada for cropping options and alternative management practices is not limited to just corn, wheat and soybeans. Canola growers in Ontario’s Near North and northwestern Quebec are testing fababeans and growers throughout the east are experimenting with cover crops and cover crop […] Read more
Blending scores big with cover crops — and diversity
More growers are exploring more blends with specific goals in sight
Reading Time: 8 minutes At Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show this past fall, the cover-crop focus was on diversity. There was a high-diversity blend, a six-way blend, a Merlin (Ontario) Multi-Mix and a soil-building mix. There was even a cool-season N-fixing blend, just to gauge its potential. If it seems like a lot to take in, get used to it. […] Read more
Last call for continuous soybean crops
Continuous soys are tough on the soil, tough on yields and tough on the pocketbook. So why do we still plant them?
Reading Time: 7 minutes Many years ago, Ross Daily, the television host of “This Business of Farming” spoke at a county-level federation of agriculture meeting, and in the course of his speech congratulated growers on their six-year rotations. The audience was frankly bewildered until Daily offered an explanation to clear the confusion. “You know what I’m talking about: soybeans-soybeans-soybeans-soybeans-soybeans, […] Read more
Before you buy that drone
Even in precision ag, it’s unwise to lose sight of the ‘fundamentals-first’ approach to good agronomy
Reading Time: 7 minutes It can be hard for those of us in the farm sector to contain our excitement when discussing the enormous potential of precision agriculture. Variable rate applications, variable rate planting, automatic down-pressure sensing, data management, digital imaging and soil sensing… these are just a few of the possibilities in a movement still clearly in its […] Read more
After twenty years has biotechnology really lived up to its promise?
The benefits of biotechnology have been undeniable to farmers, in spite of challenges from resistance
Reading Time: 6 minutes Farmers were practically guaranteed that we were entering a whole new era in agri-food production. Because of something called transgenics, we were going to have higher yields, lower costs, and all sorts of unimagineable farm efficiencies, not to mention that, thanks to this technology, we’d be able to feed the world. But 20 years later, […] Read more
Double-cropping on a comeback
Today, the double-crop odds are even more in the growers’ favour, thanks in part to short-season varieties bred for Western Canada
Reading Time: 8 minutes When comparing current commodity prices against everything they have to pay for, including land values and rents, plus seed, fuel, chemicals and fertilizer, it’s no surprise that farmers want to maximize their soil’s performance. It’s enough to make double-cropping, especially after cereals, seem like an obvious choice — if only it wasn’t so risky. Maybe […] Read more
Out-thinking the swede midge
What happens when the best recommendation is to stop growing the crop?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Do near-north canola growers have to stop growing the crop? This is the challenge facing canola growers in the Ontario’s Temiskaming district as they battle increasing pressure from swede midge. The pest, which wasn’t a huge issue in Ontario until 2011, is now causing large-scale yield loss in parts of Ontario’s near north. Terry Phillips, […] Read more
No fertilizer panic – for now
Supplies for 2016 seem healthy, but there’s no time like today to lock in your needs
Reading Time: 3 minutes Six years ago, the International Plant Nutrient Institute calculated a timeline for the world’s known reserves of key nutrients. It suggested we’ve got lots of breathing room, including 55 years for N-based fertilizers, 235 years for potash, 696 for phosphate, and a virtually inexhaustible supply of sulphur. Of course, as we use up some of […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
