Reading Time: 6 minutes Everybody likes to plant corn. At least it sure seems they do, and with $7 cash prices dancing in the collective memory of many eastern Canadian farmers, it’s hard to blame them. Corn prices have retreated from 2011’s highs, but as we look toward spring 2012, corn planters are poised to roll again. The question […] Read more
Corn Outlook 2012
What should we learn from 2011?
Every farmer gets about 40 chances to get it right when it comes to planting their crops. The problem is, every year it’s like a whole new game. If you want proof, just look at 2011. Then ask yourself how much you’d like to bet on whether we’ll get that same weather this year, or something completely different.
Reading Time: 3 minutes Lesson #1: Adjust N based on spring weather Cool and wet conditions in April, May and June resulted in lower-than-normal mineralization of nitrogen from soil organic matter, which was made worse by the loss of fertilizer N through denitrification. This was confirmed, Stewart says, when the Pre-Sidedress Nitrate Test (PSNT) Survey done June 10 to […] Read moreHow wet is it?
Reading Time: 5 minutes For corn growers, winter is the season for pencilling out your costs, mapping out your rotations and evaluating any changes to your management system, all in preparation for the flood of work that the spring season brings. For the 2012 planting season, however, many growers will be thinking of another kind of flood — the […] Read more
Corn choice
Reading Time: 6 minutes Farming is a risky business. Each spring, corn growers go to the field and invest thousands in seed, fertilizer, herbicides and more, all in the hope that the crop will grow. We know the odds, and we ante up regardless. The truth, however, is that the odds aren’t the same for everyone. Growers who do […] Read more
Falling behind
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s a lament heard all across the North American corn and soybean belt. Soybean yields are lagging behind corn. Increasingly, the two crops don’t even seem like they’re competing in the same league. Corn powers its way to great yields year after year. Soybeans surprise us with strong yields — sometimes. More farmers faced with […] Read more
Soybean Outlook 2012
Reading Time: 5 minutes Despite last year’s tough spring and the midsummer drought, Ontario soybean growers produced 109 million bushels in 2011 on approximately 2.4 million acres. A decade earlier, in another year with tough weather, we produced a scant 47 million. Clearly, the romance between Eastern Canada’s farmers and the soybean is getting warmer and warmer, so it’s […] Read more
Watch that IP market
We’re risking our hard-won IP status by chasing short-term corn profits. Maybe it’s time to run counter to the pack
Reading Time: 6 minutes There’s no denying it. Corn has outperformed soybeans for the last two years, both in the field and at the elevator. But at a time when many growers are questioning the overall value of soybeans, and when they’re voting with their planters in favour of corn, there are rumblings that maybe we’re throwing out the […] Read more
Falling behind
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s a lament heard all across the North American corn and soybean belt. Soybean yields are lagging behind corn. Increasingly, the two crops don’t even seem like they’re competing in the same league. Corn powers its way to great yields year after year. Soybeans surprise us with strong yields — sometimes. More farmers faced with […] Read more
Growing Canada’s soyfood market
It’s no longer a question of whether the soyfood will grow, but which products will grow fastest
Reading Time: 5 minutes The news on two fronts is very good. Canadian food-grade soybeans have earned a solid reputation in export markets for quality and traceability. Plus, the health benefits of soybeans are getting clearer and clearer, with more than 10,000 scientific articles now published globally citing soy’s inherently healthy low-fat protein, fatty acids, fibre content and antioxidants […] Read moreSneaky new diseases
Reading Time: 5 minutes Check out the list of diseases that you need to watch out for in forage alfalfa and you’ll find some very familiar names. Phytophthora root rot, Pythium damping off, anthrac-nose, common leaf spot and Verticillium wilt are all well known — too well known — by corn and soybean croppers. Still, alfalfa brings some additional […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
