Adding wood ash to soil both practical and cost-effective

Adding wood ash to soil both practical and cost-effective

Practical Research: Too often headed for the landfill, ash can reduce soils’ acidity and enhance cropland fertility

Here’s a perfectly good organic source of lime, with plant macro- and micronutrients, being taken from the woodlands and virtually thrown away. Wood ash is an excellent source of magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphate and micronutrients, which can very effectively raise up acid soil pH levels.


Understanding phosphorus, part 3: Developing fertilizer recommendations

Understanding phosphorus, part 3: Developing fertilizer recommendations

Agronomy Management: It’s important to have adequate P close to the seed during the first six weeks of growth

Part 3 of 3. Prairie farmers spend over $1 billion annually on phosphate fertilizer; these three articles will hopefully assist with a better understanding of how soil P functions in soil, soil testing for P and then how to develop wise phosphate fertilizer recommendations.



Topsoil being removed from a depression area in a soil landscape restoration site in southern Manitoba.

Restore productivity on your eroded knolls

Landscape restoration, cover cropping, residue redistribution and adjusting crop inputs are some management practices that can help

The eroded knolls or hilltops common in Prairie farmland are typically the least productive, often yielding considerably less than other parts of a field. Curtis Cavers, an agronomist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada based at Portage la Prairie, Man., says there are ways to boost crop productivity in these problem areas. Cavers provided an assessment […] Read more

Fertilizer in storage at a phosphate plant in North Carolina.

Understanding soil phosphorus, part 1

Agronomy Management: Rotations and fertilizer management have dramatic effects on pools of organic and inorganic P

Farmers and agronomists are very aware that phosphorus (P) is an essential element needed for optimum crop production in Western Canada. Most soils used for annual crops in Western Canada are very low, low or medium in plant-available soil P and are responsive to added P fertilizer. As a result, phosphate fertilizer use is second […] Read more


Crops that are less expensive to grow but still have profit potential may look more attractive in the expected market environment.

Expect smaller margins for error in 2025

Unless you're growing pinto beans, sharpen your pencils when calculating costs of production

Glacier FarmMedia — As of this writing it’s four and a half months until Canadian farmers will plant their next crop and at least eight months before the next harvest. But as of the middle of December, potential profits from growing grains, oilseeds and pulses are looking grim in Western Canada. “Costs have come down […] Read more




Dutch says its UHS design has undergone field trials over the past two seasons on a number of different drills.

New Dutch Agriculture opener knife prevents seed burn

Wider fertilizer-to-seed spread reduces toxicity risk in dry conditions

With drier growing conditions over many areas of the Prairies in the last couple of seasons, some growers applying high rates of fertilizer have been experiencing incidents of toxicity with seed. That problem has led some to look for different opener knives for their air drills that provide more seed-to-fertilizer separation. “We had customers come […] Read more