Reading Time: 6 minutes It seems every growing season brings something new for growers to manage. Sometimes it’s a new disease or its anticipated arrival. Other years, it’s learning to cope with the impact of weather conditions, or a sudden weed flare-up. It’s a testament to modern agricultural science that the more we learn, the more questions we ask. […] Read more
Focus on the ear leaf in corn production
Keeping the corn plant weed and stress free early allows the plant to form a larger cob, up to its genetic potential
Pest Patrol: Weed control in IP soybeans
#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA
Reading Time: 2 minutes For more than a decade now, the University of Guelph and OMAFRA have been comparing the level of weed control, crop safety and grain yield associated with different herbicide programs in food grade, non-GMO soybeans, otherwise known as IP (identity preserved) soybeans. Table 1 (see below) summarizes the weed control and crop injury achieved with […] Read more
The stewardship challenge in farming
With field management getting more complicated, it’s time for a new approach
Reading Time: 7 minutes As the 2020 planting season approaches, growers, advisors, agronomists and industry stakeholders are all hoping for something better than the past two years. Does every year have to have a challenge like 2019’s difficult harvest, or 2018’s run-in with gibberella ear rot (GER) in corn? If it weren’t for the headaches imposed by weather, a […] Read more
Controlling scentless chamomile with herbicides
#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA
Reading Time: 3 minutes Several herbicide treatments were evaluated in a 2019 on-farm research trial to determine best management options for scentless chamomile, a weed with a reputation for being difficult to control. Although 10 treatments provided greater than 80 per cent visual control of emerged plants, new seedlings continued to emerge several weeks after application, resulting in a […] Read more
Smart sprayer knows which herbicide to apply, and when
BASF’s Xarvio advances application technology
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s clear that public sentiment about perceived food safety and the environment is beginning to have a significant impact on consumer choices. An easy case in point is the marketing of meatless burgers at fast food chains as a way to save the planet from climate change. In crop production, meanwhile, the use of herbicides […] Read more
Weed control from the back of the combine
Prairie manufacturers are offering chaff collectors, and AAFC continues tests with the Harrington Seed Destructor
Reading Time: 4 minutes Mechanical weed control hasn’t been widely adopted in Western Canada but it soon will be, says Trevor Thiessen of Redekop Manufacturing in Saskatoon. “We don’t have the same stress on the resistance issue that other parts of the world are seeing. In Canada, we’re five years behind Australia in terms of thinking about mechanical weed […] Read more
PHOTOS: Pest Patrol: Purple deadnettle and henbit control in winter wheat
#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA
Reading Time: 3 minutes Q: I’m seeing more henbit and/or purple deadnettle in my winter wheat crop. Should it be controlled, and how? A: Henbit and purple deadnettle are often discussed interchangeably because they look similar, are from the same genus (Lamium) and have similar emergence patterns (mainly in the fall, but henbit will also emerge in spring). Both […] Read more
Recognize the threat of these invasive weeds
How big a problem can waterhemp and Palmer amaranth really be? Let’s not find out
Reading Time: 7 minutes Has everyone been crying wolf about waterhemp? After all, haven’t we been hearing warnings in southern Ontario about the weed for the past 15 years, and who has lost a bushel? Well, it was actually 17 years ago — 2002 — when the species was first confirmed in Lambton County, and the good news is […] 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
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
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
