Reading Time: 8 minutes There’s only one word to describe the outlook for soybeans in 2015. It’s “more.” With a reasonable spring, Eastern Canada’s soybean crop may hit an amazing 3.25 million acres. But acreage isn’t the only number that may be up. We’re also likely to see more fields with second-year and some with third-year soybeans. Then, if […] Read more
Disease risk for soybeans high
Soybean Guide: With so many rotations thrown out of sync, extra disease vigilance is essential for 2015
The class of agricultural learning
These farmers find it rewarding and enlightening to host student field trips. Should you?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Farmers need to open their farms to more people!” It’s a modern rallying cry from both inside and outside the agri-food industry as the two sides try to build better bridges to each other. But when do dairy or hog producers have time to conduct tours? And are grain farmers supposed to stop planting or […] Read more
Seed inoculation gains ground
Soybean Guide: OMAFRA’s Horst Bohner now recommends always inoculating. “There are some real benefits.”
Reading Time: 6 minutes In the world of agriculture, there are very few constants. Most practices and standards last only until new research shifts our thought processes, or until a new challenge or a new opportunity changes the landscape. There are plenty of recent examples. Within the past decade, the hard-and-fast rule of always planting corn first has changed; […] Read more
Temperatures climbing? Check the grain bins
Reading Time: 2 minutes As much as warmer weather may have growers in Ontario thinking of spring planting, a provincial ag specialist warns farmers to consider the old crop ahead of any plans for the new crop. Temperatures are moderating and in southern Ontario, they’ve risen well above freezing for the first time in nearly two months. That’s prompted […] Read more
The road ahead for soybean growers
Soybean Guide: What makes you so sure that you can plant more soybeans and still pull off good yields?
Reading Time: 8 minutes Soybeans, soybeans — and more soybeans. That’s the forecast from most corners of the agri-food industry, whether it’s based in Western Canada or in the East. Soybean production in Canada was big in 2014 and it’s on a path to grow even bigger in 2015. At the same time, that growth will come at a […] Read more
A cover crop that buzzes
Phacelia can fit a variety of cropping systems, and it’s popular with bees
Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s a new arrival in cover crops called phacelia that has the compelling advantage of being neither a cereal nor an oilseed. In fact, phacelia is a completely new species in Canada’s agriculture, which may prove to be a very good thing indeed. Phacelia is a member of the waterleaf (Hydrophyllaceae) family. Unlike oilseed radish, […] Read more
Digging into food-grade soybeans
Soybean Guide: This four-year study aims to exploit the best traits and qualities in IP soys
Reading Time: 6 minutes Agriculture often has to take a look back in order to see what’s ahead. Farmers do it with their cropping plans and seed orders. Retailers and suppliers do it too, using the previous year’s experience to improve in the year ahead. Now the food-grade soybean sector is embracing the same strategy. Thanks in part to […] Read more
This farming couple needs no equipment
The Suhrs are making it pay to crop 7,000 acres with only a pickup. The rest is all custom
Reading Time: 6 minutes Some people look at conventional farming and organic production and they see oil and water. The two just were not made to mix. Not only are their production methods about as different as they can be, so too are their markets. Fiete Suhr assures anyone who holds that outlook that not only is it possible […] Read more
Farm equipment to help speed up your day
Machinery Guide looks at innovative equipment from Bobcat, Sunflower, Yetter and Brandt
Reading Time: 4 minutes With spring on the horizon, Country Guide is providing a quick update on new equipment that doesn’t plant or harvest, or haul or spray. Even so, these are innovative designs that can prove just as valuable in the broader scope of all that’s happening on the farm these days. So have a look, and if […] Read more
Electric seed metering for your planter
Among the hottest new innovations for corn, these electric seed meters are catching on. The secret’s out!
Reading Time: 5 minutes Precision agriculture just keeps getting more and more precise. The industry has seen the advent and refinement of yield monitors and variable-rate application, and now it has moved on to improved singulation in planters, automated down-pressure, and higher planting speeds. Most of those innovations have come in response to a growing time crunch. The windows […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
