Reading Time: 6 minutes Although they’re essential on today’s commercial farms, sprayers typically rank third in importance behind seeding equipment and combines, and maybe that’s fair considering the importance of how the crop starts and how it finishes. Still, there’s no denying that the jobs you do with your sprayer are taking on new importance. Just think herbicide-resistant weeds, […] Read more
A nozzle approach to spray coverage
Design of this 3D sprayer nozzle began in the U.K. and now has a global reach
Can less be more when tackling herbicide resistance?
A coming formulation of glufosinate seeks to cut rates yet maintain efficacy
Reading Time: 4 minutes In the past five years, growers across Canada have been hearing more and more about a new weed control mantra. It’s called “doing only what’s necessary.” Weeds continue to challenge and frustrate in the field, of course, and there are always new issues like resistance in species such as Canada fleabane in the East or […] Read more
Early season N applications
It’s time for a new look at an old nitrogen question
Reading Time: 4 minutes Significant debate has arisen in the past decade as researchers, agronomists, seed company representatives and farmers have tried to determine the best application methods and timing for nitrogen (N) fertilizers. The standard practice used to be to apply everything up front, mostly because it was easier to have it done all in one go at […] Read more
Control, and revenue too
The co-op aims to put farmers in total control of their data, and the income it earns
Reading Time: 8 minutes A generation ago, farmers first got introduced to GPS yield monitors and the way they could document everything that passed through their combines. From that very first exposure, it seemed inevitable the technology would prove a stepping stone to enhanced on-farm management of crops, inputs and soil health. It didn’t happen overnight, of course, but […] Read more
New threat to weed management
Metabolic-based resistance is setting off alarms south of the border. There won’t be any easy answers
Reading Time: 6 minutes Here in the 2020s, herbicide resistance seems just part of the reality of managing weeds. It’s certainly not a new topic. We faced resistance to atrazine in the 1970s, then Group 2 ALS inhibitors in the 1990s and a more recent, widespread resistance to glyphosate. But of course the resistance threat keeps getting more complicated: […] Read more
Finding more green for corn crops
These results from a 119-year-old experiment could strengthen corn stalks and boost yields
Reading Time: 5 minutes What’s your definition of a “long-term” research project? Depending on its goals and its methodologies, five years might seem like a long time. Something like 10 or 20 years could be a real stretch. But here’s an experiment dating back 119 years that’s in a different category altogether, and it has just produced a new […] Read more
A new success story
Quinoa and amaranth may hold great promise but the lack of processors remains a challenge
Reading Time: 6 minutes Mention a new practice, a new piece of farm equipment, or a precision ag system and the first question from a grower is likely to be, “What’s my profitability margin?” It’s the same for alternative crops — although the questions vary. Whether it’s fababeans or camelina, growers want to know what volume they’ll need to […] Read more
Getting to the root of corn rootworm
How alarmed should you be about the threat of corn rootworm due to the expansion of continuous corn acres?
Reading Time: 6 minutes For a large percentage of growers in Eastern Canada, corn production isn’t just one crop in the rotation, it’s the main crop in that rotation. For others — mostly livestock producers — it’s the only crop. That dominance is creating concerns as the incidence of resistance of corn rootworm becomes a more-pressing issue. Even so, […] Read more
Tracking tar spot in Ontario
Scouting is the foundation for managing this challenging new disease
Reading Time: 7 minutes In case you haven’t heard, tar spot in corn is finally part of the landscape in Ontario. Tar spot been plastered across the U.S. farm media for the past three years. Advisors, researchers and extension personnel in Ontario have been saying it’s inevitable that, given the diseases’s ease of transmission and rapid spread in the […] Read more
New in nitrogen stabilizers
Farm options for N stabilizers are expanding with two new products
Reading Time: 5 minutes [UPDATED: Feb. 3, 2021] Fertilizers are as much a part of spring on the farm as variety selection and weed control. It’s well understood that cereals, corn and canola respond to early season fertilizer applications, and there’s a growing body of research that soybeans do too. Importantly, there’s also more evidence that the nutrients going […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
