The more knowledge you have the earlier you can make exact moves on what you need to purchase, when you want to purchase it, at a price that fits into your crop plan for the year. With crop prices backsliding from the highs they have been at the past two growing seasons, margins are starting […] Read more
A Three-Point Strategy For Buying Fertilizer
Excel Tutorial: Advanced Topics
Excel is a great tool for tracking, monitoring and calculating different operations, expenses and cash flows that occur on your farm. Excel has built in features that can make the its use much more accurate, timely and effective. A few of these features are the autosum, trace, sort and filter options. Having a general knowledge […] Read more
Photosynthesis Requires Manganese
Though manganese is the last micronutrient discussed in this five-part series, it is just as important as the others, which were boron, copper, iron and zinc. Crops grown in Western Canada that show high response to manganese application include alfalfa, soybeans, large seed legumes and some small grains. If detected early enough in a crop […] Read more
Zinc Treatments Good For Corn, Beans
Deficiency often occurs in eroded areas. These can be areas of environmental erosion — wind or water — or man-made factors that reduce topsoil such as leveling and heavy irrigation. Zinc is one of the top five micronutrients for crop production in Western Canada. Luckily, most cereal and oilseed type crops are not extremely susceptible […] Read more
Iron Deficiency Strikes Early
Iron is essential for all plants, but the Prairie crops most susceptible to iron deficiency are alfalfa, barley, rye and turf. Iron helps in the development and function of chlorophyll. It contributes to the process through which the crop fixes nitrogen from the soil. Plant respiration and metabolism require iron. And iron, like most micronutrients, […] Read more
Little Copper Goes Long Way
Copper is important for proper plant growth, particularly in alfalfa, wheat and soybeans. But plants only need a small amount. You can prevent copper deficiencies for many years with a single application of two to five pounds per acre. Plants, especially cereals, need copper for proper formation and growth. Copper is an important part of […] Read more
Boron Essential For Seed Set
Boron is one of the top five micronutrients that can affect crop yield — especially for wheat and canola — in western Canada. Most crops need two to three pounds of boron per acre of soil. Boron is most accessible to plants through borate complexes of calcium, magnesium and sodium and through other naturally occurring […] Read more
Auto-Control For Every Nozzle
Grainews has reported in the past on boom control systems that turn off sections of the boom as they cross over parts of the field that has already been sprayed. Booms are divided into five or seven sections, for example. While this is a major advancement in automation and reduced overlap, Harrison Ag Technologies of […] Read more
The pH level— the acidity or alkalinity— of your soil can influence the performance of fertilizer and the rate of herbicide uptake. It pays to know your soil pH
Soil pH is simply the acidity or alkalinity of a soil and is measured along the pH scale from 0 to 14. Anything below a pH of 5 is strongly acidic and anything above a pH of 8 is strongly alkaline. The middle point of seven is neutral, making the soil neither acidic nor alkaline. […] Read more
Monsanto’s new Roundup Ready 2 system is already available in soybeans and corn, but it will be years before canola gets the same upgrade
You might have noticed the trait “Roundup Ready 2” in the latest corn and soybean hybrids. Roundup Ready 2 soybeans are being introduced in Eastern Canada this winter and double and triple stacks in corn are already widely available. Monsanto is now looking to continue this success with advances in its canola program. Roundup Ready […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
