Reading Time: 4 minutes In the chase for higher yields and improved production, farmers have tapped into everything from precision ag systems to a return to cover crops. Now comes a concept that might not only boost yields and enhance soil health, it might also alleviate some of the pressure on farmers that starts with surface run-off heading into […] Read more
Where water leaves the farm
Improve your productivity by starting where water leaves your farm, and then work backwards
The crop production wheel
Reading Time: 2 minutes Two years ago in the September edition of Country Guide, we ran a sidebar about a “complete systems” approach to production agriculture, including the depiction of a “production wheel.” The image comes from Don Lobb, an advocate for improving soil health and tile drainage. He created the guideline in a circular or wheel configuration, and […] Read more
Is the sky the limit for aerial spray applicators?
Caught between rigid government regulations and undependable farm demand, these aerial applicators wonder about their future
Reading Time: 6 minutes We all look when we hear them. The sound of an airplane or helicopter sprayer is as distinctive as it is enticing. With an airplane, there’s that telltale roar of its high-powered engine and the pitch-shifting Doppler-effect. With a helicopter, there’s the unmistakable vibration stirring the air as it races from one end of a […] Read more
Organic weed control, precision weed tillage via the ‘Robocrop’
Frustrated with lack of weed control, one organic farmer from Manitoba is impressed by a U.K.-made in-row cultivator
Reading Time: 3 minutes Jeremiah Evans has a new high-tech hand helping him control weeds on his organic farm. Last fall the Somerset-area farmer took delivery of a custom-built U.K.-manufactured Garford Robocrop in-row cultivator, which uses special software to identify and target weeds, leaving the crop behind. After seeing what it could do to his wild oats, thistle and […] Read more
A cover crop that buzzes
Phacelia can fit a variety of cropping systems, and it’s popular with bees
Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s a new arrival in cover crops called phacelia that has the compelling advantage of being neither a cereal nor an oilseed. In fact, phacelia is a completely new species in Canada’s agriculture, which may prove to be a very good thing indeed. Phacelia is a member of the waterleaf (Hydrophyllaceae) family. Unlike oilseed radish, […] Read more
Once you get to the top…
Corn Guide: For the corn-growing Cantelon family, it just means you’re partway there
Reading Time: 5 minutes Wayne Cantelon is a lot like other farmers. He works a substantial number of acres with his father, brother and son, and he’s always trying to improve conditions and production. And just like a lot of other farmers, too, he’s hesitant to consider himself a leader or an innovator. In spite of that reluctance, Cantelon, […] Read more
Manure for cover crop
Interest in cover crops keeps building; now add some more nutrients
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s undeniable that interest in cover crops has taken off in the past two or three years. Red clover is making a comeback, there’s more being done with multi-species covers, and there’s renewed interest in seeding covers into standing corn crops. There’s even more research into using cover crops as emergency forage sources. Now comes […] Read more
Humanity must stop treating soil like dirt
Why we care: Farmers around the world know soil is the stuff of life
Reading Time: 6 minutes Winnipeg was the site of 2014’s World Congress on Conservation Agriculture where farmers, agronomists, researchers and policy-makers from 33 countries around the globe met to discuss the world’s soil, as the stories in the special ‘Sustainability’ section in the July 2014 issue of Country Guide reveal. In fact, Country Guide, and our farm readers, feel so strongly about […] Read more
Plotting a course for 2014
This summer’s demo trials will focus on how to mesh traits and crop protection with precision ag technology for even better results
Reading Time: 5 minutes After a long winter and a slow start to spring, everyone is itching to hit the field, and the major seed and chemical companies are no exception. This year, though, they’re moving away from just looking at new active ingredients or new genetics in their R&D plots. Now, they’re also starting to show what their […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
