Thom Weir

Last winter, I wrote about how to set up a field trial to receive useful data when assessing a new practice on your farm (Field trial testing tells tales for on-farm agronomy, Jan. 9, 2014.) Hopefully many of you were able to set up trials on your farm that will answer a question about the […] Read more

There has been a lot of discussion about applying reduced rates of foliar fungicides, usually a half rate at the T1 stage or at the time of herbicide spraying. The practice has become common in the past few years, but the question remains: “Are you getting an economic bang for your buck?” Kelly Turkington of […] Read more

We are starting to see the result of a couple of growing seasons in which dandelions have been poorly dealt with in cropland. A large number of calls to agronomists this spring have been about dandelions and what to do ahead of seeding. Producers are now asking what they can do about in-crop solutions. Let’s […] Read more

I spent four years working in a crop protection company’s Canadian office and was always amazed at how marketing departments could spin the data. I often marveled at what they must have thought about the gullibility of their farmer customers. It’s 25 years later and I still see this strategy. Crop protection companies have incredible […] Read more

Demonstration of a practice or product implies that no scientific analysis is done on the resulting information. A non-replicated, side-by-side trial is a common example of this approach. Demonstrations have value and can help with decision-making but are not as convincing as a replicated trial. Seaman A. Knapp, a key figure in the history of […] Read more

A major hamburger chain once popularized the saying: “where’s the beef?” This fall, I have heard a similar refrain from farmers. They are asking: “where’s the protein?” There have been few disappointments with this year’s harvest, but protein levels may be one. Higher protein wheat almost became a liability last year. Premiums all but disappeared […] Read more

This is the time of year when we start to hear of new hybrids or varieties that yield one or two percent more or a new seed treatment that will control most of the worst seedling diseases. These new technologies are exciting, but farmers may be overlooking a tool that can measure available nutrients in […] Read more