agronomy Archives - Page 9 of 11

Eight tips for growing flax

Agronomy researcher Chris Holzapfel shares what he’s learned about growing flax

By Leeann Minogue April 11, 2016

If you count each research plot as a crop, Chris Holzapfel – a research manager for the Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation – has grown more crops in a few years than most farmers have a chance to grow in a lifetime. Holzapfel’s research includes several different crops, but at a recent Saskatchewan Oilseed Producer[...]
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Will van Roessel reported a 15-bushel yield from Guttino rye harvested this fall.

Cereals, Crops

Rye takes an innovation jump

Hybrid varieties and new specialty markets are breathing new life into what had become the poor cousin of the Prairie cereal family

By Angela Lovell March 23, 2016

Reading Time: 5 minutes Some new varieties and new markets may signal the end of a long decline in Western Canada’s rye production. The 1990s started with rye area pushing the 1.3-million-acre mark, yet this year only 220,000 acres went into the ground. But some of those acres were planted with new hybrid varieties that have produced some eye-popping[...]
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Phacelia is generating more interest among cover crop growers, and sourcing has become less of a hurdle for new users.

Crops, Soybeans

Blending scores big with cover crops — and diversity

More growers are exploring more blends with specific goals in sight

By Ralph Pearce March 18, 2016

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.[...]
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Varieties bred more for Western Canada are opening the door to double-crop soybeans.

Crops, Soybeans

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

By Ralph Pearce March 7, 2016

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[...]
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A high clearance sprayer on a field in a prairie landscape

Crops, Guide Business

Where do you cut when you have to cut costs?

As crop prices drop, growers have a new focus on cost containment. Weed control is always a big bill, so it’s only natural this gets a hard look — but taking the wrong steps could cost you money

By Gord Gilmour March 7, 2016

Reading Time: 4 minutes High crop prices always make the decision to apply crop protection products relatively easy. Just a few years ago, when canola was north of $700 per tonne and wheat was sitting near $500 per tonne, the question was never “Should I spray?” it was “Why wouldn’t I spray?” After all, at those prices if you[...]
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In Arkansas, there’s only one tool left for managing herbicide-resistant Palmer amaranth — the hoe.

Crops

We need to get our herbicide resistance response right

Dealing with what's become a global problem could end up being one of Canada's key competitive advantages as a grain-exporting nation

By Gord Gilmour March 3, 2016

Reading Time: 7 minutes In Australia, the problem is so bad growers are catching chaff with mechanical seed destructors or burning it in windrows in order to destroy weed seeds. In the U.S. Cotton Belt, the unthinkable has happened and crews walk through fields, hand-roguing Palmer amaranth at $150 per acre. In Europe, they’re resorting to more and more[...]
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Four wooden spoons with dried peas and lentils

Crops, Pulses

Unique farmer-driven funding model achieving the ‘im-pulse-able’

The Prairie pulse sector has developed from a few hundred acres to a few million

By Gord Gilmour February 29, 2016

Reading Time: 6 minutes Sometime in the next year or two, University of Saskatchewan Crop Development Centre pulse breeder Bert Vandenberg expects the sector will quietly cross a very important milestone. In the early days people like him set themselves a lofty goal of capturing a significant number of acres with soil-building, protein-rich legume crops like field peas and[...]
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Multi-hybrid planters may not be in widespread use, but there’s no reason why other parameters can’t be adjusted, such as plant populations according to different soil types.

Corn, Crops

The right corn hybrid for your soil?

Pat Lynch says there are other ways to maximize production — and they’re more realistic

By Ralph Pearce February 23, 2016

Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s always high on any list of recommendations. No matter which researcher or agronomist you talk to, choosing the “right” hybrid for your field is always near their top of their Top 10 list for growing a more productive crop of corn. With precision ag systems, however, is it possible to determine which hybrids perform[...]
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Preliminary research suggests strip tillage is an option for exposing enough soil to get it warm enough to plant corn in Western Canada.

Corn, Crops

Corn isn’t just about crop heat units

New shorter-season hybrids are just part of the Prairie corn picture. Just as important will be the local research to fine-tune how they’ll fit into the production system

By Gord Gilmour February 23, 2016

Reading Time: 5 minutes As the life-science companies begin to deliver on their promise of shorter-season corn for the Prairies, another challenge arises. Typically corn is grown in rotation with soybeans in a far wetter climate in a corn-soybean rotation. How will it fit in a drier landscape, and in rotation with wheat, pulses and canola? There aren’t many[...]
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For Josh Fankhauser, integrating field data with the decisions he makes in the shop leads to better, more profitable crop performance the next summer.

Guide Business, Management

Gigs of data at work on the farm

Data Analysis: Rigorous analysis of numbers from the field helps this farm achieve its business objective

By Lee Hart January 18, 2016

Reading Time: 8 minutes When Josh Fankhauser isn’t in the shop fine tuning some equipment, he’s often at his office computer, wading through gigabytes of crop production data and analyzing numbers. Like a lot of farmers, Fankhauser is happy with a wrench in his hand, and in a world where the ethos is “throw it out, buy new,” he[...]
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Tag Archives agronomy