Reading Time: 5 minutes It sounds ideal like the ideal crop. It produces grain every year, has no annual seed and planting costs, provides excellent weed control and you can also use it for forage. Too good to be true? Maybe not. Efforts to develop perennial wheat continue their slow pace with commercialization pegged at around 15 years from […] Read more
Perennial cereal rye 2.0
After setbacks with an earlier program, Lethbridge researchers are making progress in developing a dual-purpose grain and forage rye
Pest Patrol: Planning for cover crops
#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA
Reading Time: 2 minutes Q: I want to plant cover crops after harvest. Should I be concerned about any herbicide residues that would make it harder to get them established? A: Two important factors influence the potential for herbicide carryover that could negatively affect establishment of a desired cover crop: The sensitivity of the cover crop to herbicide residues. […] Read more
What’s good about soil?
Soil health indicators often relate to properties that you can’t see
Reading Time: 6 minutes We’re planting more cover crops, we’ve got a heightened focus on soil organic matter levels, and now we’re adopting what’s thought to be a relatively new term: soil health indicators. They’re each part of a wave that’s been building, reflecting a renewed interest in the soil as the basis for all crop production. “It’s been […] Read more
Weed control with small critters
Insects, birds and worms are a free – and resistance-free – method of controlling weeds before they get a chance to germinate
Reading Time: 4 minutes The dominance of zero- or minimum-tillage practices on the Prairies means lots of weed seeds are left on the soil after harvest, but it turns out that there’s help available to stop them from germinating next spring, and you don’t have to buy it at your local chemical dealer. “Lowering the deposits into the weed […] Read more
A change in equipment vs. a change in mindset
Refocusing attention on soil health is the driver behind newer technologies
Reading Time: 4 minutes A number of years ago, Carl Brubacher looked at his soils and realized something had to change. He’d been relying on a full complement of tillage passes and he could sense his topsoil levels were becoming shallower. What he wanted was to find a way to avoid falling into the trap the U.S. has experienced, […] Read more
Pest Patrol: Don’t be cheap with weed control
#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA
Reading Time: 3 minutes “Weed control is an investment into the current and future crops on every field.” The above quote was parting advice from Norfolk and Oxford County farmer Ann Vermeersch at the 2019 FarmSmart Conference in Guelph. In front of 80 farmers and agronomists, I moderated a session with Vermeersch and Steph Kowalski, a certified crop advisor […] Read more
Mixed farming without livestock
Integrated farming gives the grain producer the rotational benefit of a forage in the rotation, and the livestock producer the benefit of a feed supply
Reading Time: 5 minutes Back around 2004, Trevor Atchison discovered a unique way of getting a crop from a neighbour’s field without either planting it or paying rent. It was an alfalfa field and Atchison, a cattle producer near Pipestone in western Manitoba, needed feed for his beef cows. So he cut and baled standing forage from the field, […] Read more
Avoiding another year of ‘snirt’
North Dakota farmers and researchers are finding success in controlling soybean field erosion by planting cover crops
Reading Time: 5 minutes “Snirt” became a buzzword in Prairie agricultural journalism in 2017 and 2018, and for good reason: the dirty snow lining ditches along highways was a telling indicator that there had been a soybean field there last season. It’s a problem across the Red River Valley region in particular, where soybean producers are used to tilling […] Read more
Another cover crop bonus – winter grazing
This Ontario producer lets the cows do the work, meaning benefits for both him and his crop-growing neighbour
Reading Time: 5 minutes Cover crops have caught on like wildfire for corn producers in the U.S. and Eastern Canada, mainly because of their benefits for soil health. But some producers have found another bonus — a source of feed for grazing cattle. Mike Buis has been doing it for about 15 years, seeing the overall benefits in animal […] Read more
The building block of soil
Soil scientists are putting more focus on the value of organic matter for feeding important microbes and boosting moisture-managing capacity
Reading Time: 5 minutes Without it, soil is just dirt. There’s a new recognition of the importance of soil organic matter, and not only for improving crop yields. It’s also a tool in the effort to mitigate climate change. Blain Hjertaas, a holistic management farmer and grazier at Redvers, Sask., participates in the Soil Carbon Challenge, an international “competition” […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
