Soil conservation specialists are not convinced that vertical tillage has widespread application across Western Canada, but three producers contacted for this issue’s Farmer Panel say the tillage system works for them. For one farmer, vertical tillage fits in better with a one-man farming system, for another it helps manage crop residue and warm up the […] Read more
Farmers in this panel say no-till systems have limits for managing crop residue and excess moisture. Vertical tillage chops up heavy residue and helps dry wet fields
Watch What The Joneses Do
Lorne Christopherson, a mixed farmer from Weldon, Sask., considers three main points when it comes to new technology… Is this new technology going to improve my bottom line? Will it make my life easier? And…will this new technology benefit the environment, or at least not be a negative? With the prospect that crop prices will […] Read more
And you thought it was great when you got a cell phone that could feed you the hockey playoff scores during those late nights seeding
Many new tools availabl e today help farmers increase production, reduce costs and save wear and tear on themselves, as well. While the first light bar systems helped machinery run straighter, the newer fieldview models ratchet that margin of overlap down even a few more degrees. And at the same time, with virtual hands free […] Read more
No two farmers approach pulse crop fertility the same, but farmers interviewed for this panel all have one thing in common: they all use inoculants
Pulse growers contacted for this issue’s Farmer Panel use a wide range of inoculant products and different combinations. Some use starter fertilizer along with the inoculant and some don’t. But one standard approach was to get the inoculant of choice applied as evenly as possible to the seed and applied just prior to seeding. If […] Read more
What About Real Canadian Food?
SO HERE ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS: Canada is continuing plans for its enhanced livestock traceability program. The U. S. has recently announced it is scrapping its plans for a national animal-tracking plan. McDonald’s Restaurants Canada comes out in favour of full livestock traceability. Caviar from short-nosed Canadian sturgeon will be one of the featured dishes served […] Read more
Critical analysis of the Opening Ceremonies
Did you hear the one about the three old farm writers, who along with their wives, got together to watch the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics, last Friday? We’re still trying to figure out how they got those whales into the stadium, and all going in the same direction. You can just imagine […] Read more
You can lose significant yields to compaction, even from limited equipment traffic over a field. With autosteer, keeping to tramlines is easier than ever
Steve Larocque is going to put his words into action this year as he begins controlled traffic farming (CTF) on his south-central Alberta farm. The owner of Beyond Agronomy crop consulting services (based at Three Hills, was so impressed with a farming system he saw in Australia, he has written about it and given presentations […] Read more
These farmers use different management for the same objective: to improve nitrogen efficiency
While fall or early spring banding of fertilizer is a basic recommendation for optimizing nitrogen efficiency, according to soil specialists, Prairie producers use a number of different approaches to get the most value out of fertilizer dollars. In this panel, producers talk about new products and new technology they feel have helped improved overall nitrogen-use […] Read more
You Can’t Beat The Band
To get the biggest bang for the buck out of nitrogen (N), band it in the soil as close to when the crop is going to need it as possible. That boils down to soil banding at time of spring seeding. That is the general, overriding recommendation from two leading soil fertility specialists in Western […] Read more
Glamorous Agricultural Jobs
At the recent Saskatchewan Beef and Forage symposium it was good to see there are still a number of young people interested in the livestock industry… not the audience, they were all old, but the young men and women learning the science of cow and grass production who attend the University of Saskatchewan or the […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
