The rain has come, and the corn crop is advancing fast. The crop is between tassel and silking stages, and the concern now is how to manage the crop for silage production. Will disease have an impact on the feed quality? Here to answer that is Albert Tenuta, OMAFRA plant pathologist, who joins Bernard Tobin... Read More
While it’s important to stay current on new and emerging diseases of the corn crop, it’s still important to keep tabs on the old standbys, such as northern corn leaf blight. “We know the weather’s been favourable for diseases, and we get lots of calls on that,” says Alberta Tenuta, plant pathologist at OMAFRA. There’s... Read More
The annual Ontario field crop diagnostic days held at Ridgetown, Elora, and Winchester will again go virtual in 2021. The organizing committees of these three highly successful in-field education and learning events are again partnering with crop researchers and extension, along with support from RealAgriculture and a host of sponsors to bring you a series... Read More
When it comes to strip tilling, is it better to plant corn into fall strips or spring strips? Ben Rosser, corn lead with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, has been working on this question for a while now, and in this Corn School episode, Bernard Tobin catches up with him in... Read More
What’s the weirdest colour you’ve ever seen a crop turn? This week in Ontario, at least one farmer is reporting very dark straw where the wheat crop was touched by frost in late May. An agronomist also reports purple stems in another area. What the heck is happening here? Never fear, as Peter “Wheat Pete”... Read More
What if corn, like soybeans, could fix its own nitrogen? It’s a question agronomist Dale Cowan and his team at AGRIS Co-operative are tackling this summer as they test a biological product that promises to help corn plants fix nitrogen, when applied directly on the seed, in pop-up fertilizer, and through foliar application between the... Read More
Everyone enjoys a good spirit or two, and many Canadians, when looking for a bottle of their favourite spirit, will check to see if it’s been produced from Canadian grains. A recent policy change in Alberta could lead to fewer markets for Alberta cereals and more imports of the raw materials from elsewhere. Jan Westcott... Read More
Normally a week or so behind the winter barley crop, Ontario farmers are nosing into the wheat harvest a little early as the two crops are ready at about the same time. From an aphid alert on soybeans, to sneaky root rots, and potash deficiency showing up in corn, Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson has the... Read More
There is tremendous yield potential in Ontario corn fields right now. With recent rainfalls, subsoil moisture has been replenished and the crop has jumped in the last few days. Great looking acres and strong corn prices both weigh into the decision to apply fungicides. In this Corn School episode, Bernard Tobin is joined by BASF... Read More
Some farmers practice strip till in their cornfields, some plant corn in twin rows, while others plant multiple hybrids. Then there’s Mike Strang — he does it all in the same field and even adds cover crops to the management mix. On this episode of The Sharp Edge, Strang, who farms with his family near... Read More
Soybeans are beginning to flower and corn is waist high in parts of Ontario, and it’s not even July. Crop staging, lush and humid canopies, and field history all play a key role in disease development and suppression, and our guests for this episode stress the importance of genetic selection and scouting as the first... Read More
Weather is the ultimate source for small talk, and rainfall is perhaps the most talked about — from how much, to when, to not enough, and on too much. For this episode of the Corn School, Bernard Tobin asks Dale Cowan, senior agronomist at AGRIS C0-operative, about how much rain a corn crop needs throughout... Read More
Wheat in Ontario is in grain fill, and that means scouting for cereal leaf beetle. There’s also been plenty of rain in certain parched parts of the west, but it’s too much and way too late to save the crop. In this week’s edition of Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter Johnson discusses some insect alerts,... Read More
Soil health, in a rotational grazing and cattle operation sense, starts with ground cover and consistently adding organic matter that will eventually become sequestered carbon. Logistics-wise and from a management stand-point, how is improved soil health achieved in a cattle operation? In this Soil School episode, Bernard Tobin is in the field with Aaron Bowman,... Read More
Proper staging is critical when applying in-crop herbicides in corn, but there are multiple ways to measure corn’s growth stages, and herbicide labels don’t always use the same method. Agronomists often use the “leaf collar” — or V-stage — method to describe growth stages, while others use plant height. However, herbicide labels often refer to... Read More
Early-season corn scouting requires a little bit of time and attention, but can really pay off for the rest of the year and even into the next. Sara Meidlinger, market development specialist with Pride Seeds for Western Canada, joins Kara Oosterhuis for this Corn School episode. Scout representative areas of the field including good and... Read More
Huge areas of Ontario saw frost over the weekend, in some cases as low as -7 degrees C. The full impact of the lighter frost in other areas is still being assessed, but there are replants already happening on plenty of soybean acres. Wheat Pete’s Word host Peter Johnson talks about that this week, and... Read More
Early planted corn is starting to emerge in Ontario and usually when digging around, a nice straight plant can be seen coming out of the ground. This year, though, a few plants are a little wonky. Down in Lambton County, Ont., agronomist Ryan Benjamins is seeing quite a bit of corkscrewing in corn this year,... Read More
The corn crop is in the ground in Ontario and it’s time to get out and scout. When scouting corn early in the season, diagnosis of issues is key for managing the crop further along in its growth. In this episode of Corn School, Bernard Tobin is joined in the field at Lambton County, Ont.,... Read More
April didn’t bring showers to Western Canada, and it didn’t bring heat to Ontario either. But the growing season in Ontario is still about 10 days ahead of average and that has some farmers well ahead of the norm for planted acres. This week on Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson covers a... Read More