Reading Time: 7 minutes For the 2018 growing season, Dave McEachren decided to revisit the past with something old and something new. A dozen years ago, he had tried relay cropping after hearing about it and reading the research that had been done on it at Ohio State University. The practice involves planting soybeans into a wheat crop as […] Read more
Relay cropping
The goal for Ontario’s Dave McEachren is three crops in two years
Cross slot seeding
Maybe it’s not a brand new idea, but this technology from New Zealand allows for revolutionary no-till seeding, fertilizer banding and uniform emergence
Reading Time: 6 minutes A common view in agriculture these days is that crop yields jumped more in the past 10 years than they did in the previous 30. And it isn’t just yield. There have been similar spurts too in the design of multi-hybrid planters, variable-rate seeding and newer transgenics. Yet at the same time, a few older […] Read more
Real sustainability
Integrating the benefits of his Ontario Soil Network membership into how he farms is helping Rick Kootstra find real sustainability
Reading Time: 5 minutes Like a lot of farmers, Rick Kootstra doesn’t see himself as an innovator or a leader. He just goes about his business. Thanks to the Ontario Soil Network, though, he does it with a lot of great connections with farmers who share similar goals and aspirations. Kootstra, along with his brothers Rob and Derek, works […] Read more
Four growers who believe in inter-seeding into standing corn
"It’s something that we have to start doing and advertising to the consumer," Gerard Grubb, Mildmay farmer
Reading Time: 11 minutes As trends go, this one is picking up steam. Two years ago, it seemed a novelty. You were lucky to see it outside of a few test locations such as at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, although there were also isolated growers who had become believers, especially in Quebec. Today, the movement has clearly spread, not […] Read more
Where water leaves the farm
Improve your productivity by starting where water leaves your farm, and then work backwards
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
The class of agricultural learning
These farmers find it rewarding and enlightening to host student field trips. Should you?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Farmers need to open their farms to more people!” It’s a modern rallying cry from both inside and outside the agri-food industry as the two sides try to build better bridges to each other. But when do dairy or hog producers have time to conduct tours? And are grain farmers supposed to stop planting or […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
