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Check your soil for herbicide residue
Columns, Crops

Check your soil for herbicide residue

Learn how to conduct plant bioassays to detect potential herbicide residues in your soil

By
Plant bioassays are a simple, inexpensive, accurate and direct method of determining if it is safe to grow crops on land previously treated with known herbicides or on cropland or compost with an unknown history of herbicide use. A bioassay can detect if herbicide or chemical residues are present in the soil or compost at […] Read more
Get the most efficiency from your nitrogen
Crops

Get the most efficiency from your nitrogen

Generally, banding is the most efficient method for reducing nutrient loss

By
If you’re looking for a quick and easy guide to choosing the right placement for your nitrogen application, there isn’t one. Neither is there a one-size-fits-all strategy for timing or rate. There are, however, clear guidelines on how to improve nitrogen efficiency while limiting environmental impact. University of Manitoba soil science professor Don Flaten explains. […] Read more
Cover crop growing after harvest.
Crops, Features

Why didn’t my cover crop work?

Kevin Elmy lists nine potential causes of things that could go wrong when you try growing cover crops on your farm

By
Ever try something and it didn’t work the first time? What’s the next step? Try again doing the same thing, modify the approach or give up? Ideally, getting a mentor or someone with experience to find out what went wrong will help create a successful situation. Or maybe it just doesn’t work. Cover cropping is […] Read more
Sunset in wheat field, late afternoon in wheat field - dusk in the cereal field
Columns, Crops

Copper: For peat’s sake!

Think peaty soil isn’t worth farming? Just add copper to get better results

By
Peat is nature’s natural organic compost. As a field crop amendment, peat has a lower carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N), 60:1, than straw or cattle manure — that’s around 80:1. Canada has 270 million — yes, million — acres of peat lands, making up 25 per cent of the world’s peatland supply. Peat is harvested right across […] Read more
Les Henry’s stubble soil moisture map, as of Nov. 1, 2018
Columns, Crops

Les Henry’s stubble soil moisture map, as of Nov. 1, 2018

There’s more red ink (dry areas) than we’d like to see on this year’s map

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Each year when I make up this very general map, I keep hoping for a young generation to come along with better technology and smarts to make a better map. I now see a very bright light at the end of the tunnel. My December 12, 2018, article talked about the soil moisture sensor probes […] Read more
The family at Friendly Acres Seed Farm. Kevin Elmy and his wife Christina, Kevin’s parents, Robert and Verene, and Kevin and Christina’s daughters, Kennedy and Haley.
Crops, Features

Friendly Acres 2018 year in review

Changes are in store for Friendly Acres, but soil health will still be the top priority

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One of the challenges of farming in a continental climate is weather. That is why farmers talk about it, complain about it, and want to either get good forecasts for it or control over it. Looks like the excess water issue that we had for eight years solved itself. Two years of below-normal moisture has […] Read more
Tillage can help warm the soil faster for earlier seeding, but it also gives weeds a better environment to germinate.
Crops

Tillage systems’ impact on weeds and disease

No-till and minimum-till systems both have agronomic drawbacks and advantages

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No-till and minimum-till systems both have their advantages and drawbacks, especially when it comes to managing weeds, disease and insects in next season’s crop. Let’s start by looking at the advantages of no-till systems. Right off the bat, they’re great for soil and moisture conservation — particularly when you’re working on lighter, sandier soils. Growers […] Read more
Soil background
Columns, Crops

Finally, soil moisture measuring meets new tech

A map of soil moisture at freeze-up can give you a good indication of your yield potential

By
Water in the bank is a certainty; rainfall is a probability. Much of what we do in farming is based on probabilities — a game of chance. What are the chances we will get timely rains to keep a crop from withering away to a low yield? What are the chances we will suffer disease […] Read more
Copper deficiencies can reduce wheat yields
Crops, Wheat & Chaff

Copper deficiencies can reduce wheat yields

Q & A with Nutrien Ag Solutions

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Q: How do I know if I have copper-deficient soils? A: Copper is the micronutrient most often found deficient in Western Canada. In a nutshell, copper deficiency is most often found in deep sandy soils and peat soils, and wheat is the most sensitive crop. Soil tests are a good tool to predict potential copper […] Read more
Handful of arable soil in hands of responsible farmer, close up, selective focus
Columns, Hart Attacks

Scientists say it’s all about the soil

Farmers and ranchers need to keep society connected to the land

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So a soil scientist steps up to a conference microphone about to deliver a one-hour talk and my first thought — “is 8:30 in the morning too early for a nap?” But not so. What a great talk given by Henry Janzen, a long-time researcher at the Agriculture Canada Lethbridge Research Centre to open the annual […] Read more

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