Reading Time: 3 minutes Below the soil surface lurks the weed seed bank — the predominant source of weed pressure on current and future crops. “You do not want to draw on this bank account,” said provincial crop specialist Harry Brook. “It is a source of annual and perennial weeds that will wait for years before the right conditions […] Read more
A large weed seed bank is a ‘gift that keeps taking’
No till, chaff collection, forage in rotation, and chemical control all reduce weed pressure
Canada’s soil is in crisis — and change is needed, says advocate
Agronomy has ‘masked’ soil degradation, but the crunch is coming
Reading Time: 4 minutes The biggest crisis facing Canadian agriculture is right beneath our feet. “For the first time in history, we have the technology and tools to produce food in a sustainable way, yet farmers and their influencers cling to old ways and values,” said Don Lobb, an Ontario farmer and a longtime leader in the no-till and […] Read more
Canola Council resets course for ‘efficiencies’
Facing new limits on available funding, Canada’s canola value chain organization plans to refocus its work on its “core strengths” and collaborate with other players. The Canola Council of Canada on Wednesday announced a revised work plan, coming out of a “priorities review” undertaken after one of Canada’s biggest grain companies called a halt to […] Read more
The search for a ‘win-win’ solution to unprofitable acres
Precision agriculture meets precision conservation in ongoing profitability mapping research
Reading Time: 5 minutes Farming and farmland conservation sometimes seem at odds with each other — a win for one is seen as a loss for the other. After all, taking land out of production for conservation purposes is seen as a loss of productive farmland, while the ecological community sometimes views intensive ag production as a threat to […] Read more
Grants available for irrigation upgrades
Grants to reduce water use or energy use can be as much as $15,000 for each irrigated parcel
Reading Time: < 1 minute Applications are now being accepted for the Irrigation Efficiency program under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The program offers grants for new low-pressure centre pivots or upgrades to existing pivots (such as sprinkler and nozzle packages, control panels, and variable-rate irrigation) as well as drip irrigation. Any active producer who owns an irrigated agricultural operation in […] Read more
A mediocre approach won’t cut it when growing canola
When you’re spending upwards of $400 an acre to grow this crop, yield-robbing mistakes are painful
Reading Time: 5 minutes With pulses slamming into India’s tariff wall, it’s not surprising many producers are thinking about more canola this year. However, even experienced canola growers can trip up with the small-seed crop. The biggest obstacles are a high failure to make a plant, its slowness to establish, and seed cost, said Greg Sekulic, a Canola Council […] Read more
New cropping business tools available
Reading Time: < 1 minute The 2018 versions of Cropping Alternatives and the new Crop Budget Calculator tool are now available. They allow producers to project costs, margins, and break-even yields for potential crops. Cropping Alternatives “forecasts margins based on benchmark yields, current cost of production, expected revenues, and costs by soil zone. With this information producers can get an […] Read more
Canola acres set to jump, but so will the risk of disease
Canola plantings are expected to increase by about one million acres, and that means more disease risk
Reading Time: 3 minutes Canola could top out at over 24 million acres in Canada this year — one million more acres than growers planted in 2017. “With the relative return right now, canola is looking better than wheat,” said Murray Hartman, oilseed specialist for Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. “If these kinds of price signals continue or strengthen in […] Read more
Scaling up: How to take small-size research from plot to field
Many farmers are skeptical of small-plot research results, but proper protocols are needed to scale up to a field level
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers are making some pretty big decisions off test strips — and that scares JP Pettyjohn. “We could flip a coin and pretty much come up with the same answer,” said Pettyjohn, a crop technology instructor at Lakeland College. “I don’t want an answer. I want the right answer.” Small-plot trials have been widely used […] Read more
There are many ways to view — and treat — soil
Healthy soil is a precious resource and we need to think more about that as we plan for our future
Reading Time: 3 minutes It is hard to imagine there is so little soil when we stand and look out at our vast landscapes where the ground lays in wait for the warmth of spring and the touch of the farmer’s hand. The shrinking global land base that is arable seems a country mile away and another farmer’s problem. […] Read more
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