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Soil testing pastures and hayfields
Crops, Wheat & Chaff

Soil testing pastures and hayfields

Q & A with Nutrien Ag Solutions

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Q. Why should I soil test my pastures and hayfields? A. Soil testing pastures and hayfields should be routine. Often these fields get an initial fertilization and then, after a few years of establishment, growers ask what could be missing to maximize output. Forages are big users of nutrients. In hay crops much of the nutrients taken up are removed from the field when the […] Read more
The problems in Dwayne’s field were limited to a five-acre area, although soil tests showed a copper deficiency throughout the field.
Barley, Crops, Features

Crop advisor casebook: Pigtailing barley presents a problem

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the July 16, 2019 issue of Grainews

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Dwayne farms around 4,500 acres of red spring wheat, canola and malt barley near DeBolt, Alta. He gave me a call late last June because of a recurring problem in one of his barley fields. When visiting the field, I found some barley plants located in a concentrated area — around five acres — had […] Read more
The component parts of soil are normally called clay, silt and sand.
Columns, Crops

What’s in the ground under your crop?

What is half air by volume, 50 per cent oxygen by weight, and has the capacity to grow a crop?

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Is it dirt, earth, mud, sand, clay, silt, muck? Yes, it’s all of these, but what really are Prairie soils made of? There are four basic types of Prairie soil: dark brown, black, dark grey and brown. Rainfall on these soils, the prime yield-limiting factor, ranges from around 11 to as much as 20 inches […] Read more
Anhydrous Ammonia tanks
Columns, Crops

Les Henry: Anhydrous ammonia and the 4Rs

Time to bring back what should be the cheapest form of nitrogen fertilizer

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Almost all farm press of late that talks about fertilizer use emphasizes the 4R concept. That means that we will take each nutrient and decide what is the “right” source to use, what is the “right” application rate, what is the “right” placement and what is the “right” time to apply that nutrient. The nutrient […] Read more
Les Henry: Mourning the loss of the International Plant Nutrition Institute
Columns, Crops

Les Henry: Mourning the loss of the International Plant Nutrition Institute

Information will be lost with the end of this valuable organization

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To my great disappointment I recently learned of the impending demise of the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), an organization funded by primary producers of fertilizer products. IPNI was involved in a wide array of activities to further the efficient and effective use of fertilizers to keep farms profitable and to feed the people of […] Read more
The profile shown here is of a black soil where moisture conditions were more favourable and the depths of topsoil were greater. Many of the thick black soils were able to accumulate that level of organic matter because they often have sub irrigation from high water tables.
Columns, Crops

Les Henry: Soils, grassland and bush

Manage your soils based on what’s going on underneath the soil

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I penned a piece with this same title in 1989. Since then, we have learned some new things about how grassland and bush soils function. In the old days the actual 35 mm slides of the soil profiles had to be sent by snail mail to Winnipeg and the captions were in the paper copy […] Read more
Deep ripping to eliminate a compaction layer should only be done after doing some work to find out exactly how deep that layer goes down in the soil profile.
Equipment, Machinery

Tillage 101: Getting the compaction out

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To till or not to till, that is the question. The question is simple but the answer isn’t. Ask different people for their opinions and you’ll get a variety of answers. The real answer might be “Maybe. But if you do, do it properly.” Grainews spent some time in an Arizona farm field with tillage […] Read more
Holding an Earthworm in Hand
Columns, Crops, Hart Attacks

Don’t underestimate the power of soil bugs

Save money, increase profits by getting billions of little creatures working for you

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There’s that message again — learning to farm without inputs. It is a pretty compelling concept: being able to grow a crop without $200 or $300 per acre invested in added fertilizer and crop protection products. Is it a myth? Does it work? What are these guys trying to sell me? Kevin Elmy says it works. […] Read more
This almost-robot looking device is the John Deere Field Connects weather station that collects a wide range of environmental data such as rainfall, solar intensity and wind speed. The weather station also ties into the moisture probe which is installed near the steel post at right.
Crops, Features

Are you leaving water on the table?

New app and service gives producers a better handle on moisture

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Since technology so far can’t make it start or stop raining on dryland farms, it is obviously important to make the most efficient use of moisture that is available during the growing season. But how much moisture do or will you have for that crop? Depending on the year and location, spring seedbed soil moisture can range from […] Read more
The pretty little slough, circled in red, on August 31, 2006.
Columns, Crops

Les Henry: A pretty little slough, a picture story

Sloughs are affected by the underground as well as surface features

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Be patient. This piece does have a punch line and it does relate to farming — but it comes at the end. Carry on and read. No peeking! In 2007 I was involved in a hydrogeology study of a new subdivision in southeast Saskatoon. The real work was done by an engineering firm who hired […] Read more

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