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Tag Archives agronomy

Blooming rapeseed field at sunset
Canola, Crops, Features

Back to the agronomy basics in canola

Experts advise growers to focus on quality seed and nitrogen before less conventional inputs

By
Canola growers have been asking agronomists questions about promoted products. Do they work? And if so, are they worth the additional cost? Two researchers, Murray Hartman, oilseed specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, and Neil Harker, research scientist, weed ecology and crop management, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, conducted a study to test the inputs that […] Read more
Replace that pencil with an online calculator
Crops, Features

Replace that pencil with an online calculator

Take your homework from page to screen. Online calculators can help you add up production costs and estimate profits

By
If you need help planning for the upcoming crop year, there are plenty of online tools on provincial government websites to help. Some of them are in downloadable, customizable Excel spreadsheet format; and others are downloadable software that can producers can save to their computer and customize. With different soil and climate conditions, each Prairie […] Read more
Rigorous research should be conducted in Western Canada to test products or practices before promotion to Prairie farmers.
Columns, Crops

Yield boosting production information

Agronomy Management: Just because someone tells you something doesn’t mean it’s true. Base your choices on good sources

By
At this time of year, the popular press is loaded with promotional information in the form of advertising and news articles, touting the benefits of all kinds of crop yield boosting products. These may include: soil conditioners; nonconventional or speciality fertilizers; wetting agents and surfactants; biological inoculants and activators; and plant stimulants and growth regulators. […] Read more
grain bins and barley field
Crops, Features

Would your farm pass the stress test?

When you pencil out 
your farm budgets, 
calculate some “what if” 
scenarios as well

By
New provincial guidelines for estimating 2017 crop production costs are being released across the Prairies. These guidelines can help producers predict their operating costs, breakeven yields and profitability. Producers should also be doing a “stress test” to see how much deviation from those predictions the farm can actually bear without losing money, is the advice […] Read more
Once you suspect resistance, sending the seed for testing can confirm or allay your fears.
Crops, Features

Are there resistant weeds in your fields?

The answer to this question is probably yes. Testing can give you a definite answer

By
Every season more farmers face the challenge of herbicide-resistant weeds. “Herbicide resistance is the genetic capacity of a weed population to survive a herbicide treatment that, under normal use conditions, would effectively control that weed population,” said Dr. Jeanette Gaultier, weed specialist with Manitoba Agriculture. It’s sometimes described as evolution happening at an accelerated pace […] Read more
Garden Peas
Crops, Features, Pulses

94 is out there — don’t settle for average

Agronomics, fertility and overall nutrition can raise field pea yields as high as 94 bushels per acre

By
It was only a plot, and it wasn’t necessarily a realistic crop nutrient program most producers would consider following, but an ATP Nutrition demonstration at a Saskatchewan farm show last summer, showed Prairie farmers it is possible to produce an 94 bushel field pea crop. That 94 bushel yield, on plots at the Ag In […] Read more
Pat Pfiffner, a farmer and senior technologist with Alberta Agriculture holing a soil penetrometer.
Columns, Crops

Rutted fields and soil compaction

What are the best ways to alleviate damaged fields in the spring?

By
Persistent rains with cold, damp conditions in September and October made harvest last fall even more stressful that usual for many farmers. Trucks, grain carts and combines in wet fields have left moderate to severe ruts in fields across the Prairie. Ruts must be fixed before spring planting. Many farmers are also worried about soil […] Read more
Getting better at what you do is the first step.
Columns, Crops, Markets

Staying competitive in a new world

Production is up in the Former Soviet Union and South America. Are you ready?

By
Up until about the last decade the advantage North American farmers had over those in Russia, Ukraine and South America was the use of machinery, technology, genetics and agronomics to produce higher yields. This kept per acre costs low enough to generate profits. Over the last 10 years farming in these other regions has caught […] Read more
Crops

Faster breeding with the Scanalyzer

Is field-scale robotic phenotyping: the next generation of precision ag?

By
It’s the world’s largest ag robot, and it could be called Precision Agriculture: Next Gen. Technically, it’s called the LemnaTec Field Scanalyzer. It’s a field-scale machine that looks at individual plants and quickly assesses many agronomic traits including leaf area, plant height, biomass, tip burn and drought tolerance, entirely on its own. LemnaTec, a German […] Read more
This tillage radish is in the early stages of getting to work.
Crops, Features

The economic value of growing cover crops

Not all of the economic benefits of cover crops can be measured easily, but it’s worth a try

By
The first question that comes up when cover crops are discussed is “Do they pay?” Net returns from cover crops will be determined by what goals were set, what species were grown and other intrinsic benefits from the cover crop. In any business, net profit is the difference between costs and revenue. The two ways […] Read more

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