Reading Time: 6 minutes Soil and rotation Oats grow best in black and grey wooded soil zones that have higher moisture, but can grow on sandy loam to heavy clay soils as long as they have good drainage. To reduce disease pressure and optimize yields, oats should not be grown after cereals. The best rotational crops include canola, hay, […] Read more
Growing quality oats
Recommendations for oat agronomy from the new POGA Oat Growers Manual and research across Western Canada
Soil organic freefall
Comparisons that date back 40 years or more in some counties show just how much organic matter we’ve lost, and how hard it’s going to be to replace it
Reading Time: 7 minutes For much of the past decade, provincial extension personnel, certified crop advisors (CCAs) and retailers have talked about declining soil organic matter levels in soils across Ontario. The trends towards intensive farming, shorter rotations, a decline in livestock farming and general practices that focus more on yield are some of the factors cited, together with […] Read more
The next tipping point for Canada’s corn growers
Some Illinois growers are already at the tipping point for resistant weeds. Are Canadian corn growers far behind?
Reading Time: 5 minutes The march of glyphosate-resistant Canada fleabane through Ontario has been nothing short of striking, going from Essex County in 2010 to the Ottawa Valley by 2015. And now other resistant weeds are also spreading. In the U.S., waterhemp and Palmer amaranth are the new “dynamic duo” with their own resistance movement. It’s to the point […] Read more
Dealing with those early weeds
Forget the old arithmetic. Your losses from early weeds are probably much more costly than you’ve ever imagined
Reading Time: 6 minutes In a time of low commodity prices and a growing incentive to maximize profit on every acre, it’s hard enough to accept that some growers are giving up $14 per acre on corn. It’s unfathomable that they might be losing $84 per acre. Yet that’s the startling assessment of the impact of delayed herbicide application […] Read more
The ‘precise’ in precision agriculture
Making cost-of-production decisions is possible using available software
Reading Time: 8 minutes In the world of precision agriculture, each new growing season seems to bring a fresh batch of brand new technologies, complete with upgrades to existing systems. No question, it can be a challenge just to keep up with the variety and capability of some of these innovations, let alone figuring out which might have the […] Read more
Going big with on-farm research
The plots may be supersized, but the questions that privately owned Agritruth Research looks to answer could have come from any farmer in Western Canada
Reading Time: 6 minutes If you go driving down Highway 110 east of Brandon, Man., you probably won’t notice you’re passing a research farm. There are no chemical or seed company signs dotting the field edge, nor any grids of those tiny, distinct plots that are normally a dead giveaway that agricultural research is underway. There is no small-batch […] Read more
Big trends drive diverging high and low income food interests
Panel discussed the future of food and the widening disconnect between growers and consumers
Reading Time: 3 minutes There are larger issues driving food trends that should give farmers opportunities to open conversations with people in the food movement. The challenge is starting that conversation. Jayson Lusk, the head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, told the George Morris AgriFood Policy Lecture on the future of food that influencers are […] Read more
Adding an agronomist to your farm team
As farming gets more complicated a growing number of companies are offering to help out. Some farmers get advice from their local independent retailer, or an agronomist employed by a company like CPS. But more and more farmers are choosing to pay for agronomic advice. Based on the logo-covered trucks parked at farm shows, the[...]
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Flax opportunities
Agronomics and yield are the big priorities for flax growers in Western Canada
Reading Time: 9 minutes Flax acres have started to rebound over the past few years, with Saskatchewan still accounting for most of the flax grown on the Prairies. In order to entice more growers to flax, however, yields will need to increase. Average flax yields have hovered around 22 bu./ac. for many years, and although growers in some areas[...]
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PHOTOS: Farm Show demo digs deep on value of soil health
Roots, worm casts and different cover blends show amazing effects
Reading Time: < 1 minute Soil health has been a buzz phrase that’s gone from a whisper three to five years ago to a chorus that’s spreading across the agrifood industry. That goes to show the swinging of the pendulum away from plowing and aggressive tillage — and it seems to be gaining more advocates with each passing day. This[...]
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A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
