Reading Time: 5 minutes A warm, early-July breeze blew through a wheat field in northeastern Saskatchewan, not far from Nipawin. The heads had just emerged and were still green, but the field was taking on that fuzzy look that you typically get with a fresh, bearded cereal. This field was unusual, however, because even though you couldn’t see it, […] Read more
Going underground for soil ecology
Soil is far more than just dirt. Are you nurturing the organisms that help it grow great crops?
The ‘ghostly nature’ of phantom nutrients
Micronutrients are the acid test of crop fertility. Some believe in them. Others just don’t
Reading Time: 5 minutes For the most part, our Prairie soils aren’t short of micronutrients. Deficiencies are rare, and they are also difficult to pin down, in part because such shortages are usually associated with highly localized soil conditions and because some of these conditions change with varying moisture or pH levels. As well, since these micronutrients are only […] Read more
The dirt on soil tests
With soil nutrient levels dropping, how do you need to change your soil-testing program and fertility rates?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Fewer farmers are sampling their soils. In Ontario, the numbers say fewer than 30 per cent of farmers test every three years, even though this trend is leading to a data gap at a time when everything else seems to be changing too, such as the rapid climb in yield potentials, and elite corn hybrids […] Read more
To sample, or not to sample (soil). Who’s right?
Some of your neighbours have stopped soil sampling. Others are sampling more than ever.
Reading Time: 5 minutes In any year, at most 10 per cent of the fields are soil sampled,” says Tom Jensen, a director in the North American program of the International Plant Nutrition Institute. “Some people say 20 per cent of farmers do some soil testing, but they may only do it every couple to three years.” Farm consolidation […] Read more
Grow your own nitrogen
As the cost-price squeeze reasserts itself, those old ideas about producing your own nutrients might become new again —- which means the organic industry might have a thing or two to teach us
Reading Time: 5 minutes Near Oxbow, Sask., organic producer Ian Cushon spends a lot of time and energy trying to produce the key building block for plant life — his own nitrogen — because unlike most growers, Cushon can’t just spread some fertilizer and be done with it. If he wants to play the organic game and capture those […] 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 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 your soil lacking phosphorous? How to diagnose nutrient deficiency
Phosphorus deficiency is hard to identify and often goes unnoticed — even when significant yield loss can be occurring. Will an extra 20 lbs./ac. of phosphate pay off?
Reading Time: 7 minutes Soil phosphorus levels are critically low in more and more fields. These fields may no longer provide enough phosphorus for crops to reach their yield potential, which means the solution to yield stagnation — on some fields, at least — could be plain old boring phosphate. Canola takes up around 1.5 pounds of phosphate per […] Read more
A new nutrient for crops?
We’ve always known carbon is important. Now, a new project is looking how to apply carbon like fertilizer to boost yields
Reading Time: 6 minutes The importance of carbon in agriculture has never been in scientific doubt. Whether it’s a component of photosynthesis — in the form of CO2 — or as part of the bigger picture carbon-nitrogen (C:N) ratio or the even more complicated carbon cycle, there’s no getting around the element’s value for farming. That doesn’t mean we […] 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
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
