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
Second avian flu control zone set up in SW Ontario
Reading Time: 3 minutes A federal control zone has been officially set up for a 10-kilometre radius around the Oxford County chicken farm that’s home to Ontario’s second outbreak of H5N2 avian flu. This control zone, which covers ground in both Oxford County and Waterloo County, is an “internationally accepted practice,” meant to allow export business to continue from non-infected […] 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
Increase in conservation agriculture ‘has to happen’
Only 7.1 per cent of the world’s arable land is farmed no till, and there are many reasons to adopt practices
Reading Time: 4 minutes If conservation agriculture is so great, why aren’t more farmers doing it? It’s a question that surfaced repeatedly during panel discussions at the recent World Congress on Conservation Agriculture in Winnipeg. Presenters from countries spanning the alphabet from Australia to Zambia left little doubt that conservation agriculture is a worldwide movement. Zero tillage is growing […] Read more
The evolution of vertical tillage
It’s how you use your deep tiller that makes all the difference in crop performance
Reading Time: 7 minutes What’s vertical tillage? It seems like a simple three-word question, and you’d expect the answer to be just as straightforward. But no matter which farmer, equipment dealer or agronomist you ask, or how many times you ask them, you’re likely to get a different answer every time. In no small part that’s because the focus […] Read more
Game plan
How to tackle glyphosate-resistant Canada fleabane
Reading Time: 2 minutes What’s the best strategy for defeating one of your toughest competitors, glyphosate-resistant Canada fleabane? I will dedicate three columns to this important question, since it requires a different strategy for each crop. Let’s start out by digging more deeply into one of the more common statements being made about the management of Canada fleabane, namely, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
