Crop Management
Case recently introduced a new twin row planter for prairie farmers who want to increase corn yields or move into a longer crop rotation. Corn growers who want to in-crease plant populations without changing cropping practices are the main twin row market, but other niche markets also exist, including the Prairies. The prairie corn line […] Read more
Crop Management
Case debuts twin row planters
Environment should be first and last priority
Guy McPherson of the University of Arizona says it well when he reminds us where our first allegiance should lie. “If you really think the environment is less important than the economy, try holding your breath while you count your money.” McPherson is reminding us that we are part of the earth, not the other […] Read more
Big boom covers ground quickly
FARGO, N.D. — Jay Mercil had to tighten up his thinking cap two years ago when Ron Sylte ordered a 3,100 gallon sprayer with a 150 foot boom. Mercil, who co-owns Sprayflex in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, said his family has built truck style sprayers since the late 1990s, and Sylte has been buying their truck […] Read more
Gigantic boom sprayer needs to be bigger
Fifteen more feet required | Grower says a 165-foot boom would better fit the dimensions of his quarter-section fields
FARGO, N.D. — Ron Sylte is ready to up-size his year-old 150 foot self-propelled Sprayflex to a more convenient 165 foot sprayer. The combination of a 3,100 US gallon tank and 150 foot boom width allows Sylte to spray 600 acres in four to five hours non-stop. He seeds 10,000 acres, but many of the […] Read more
Great Plains has great plans for corn, canola
Twin row seed singulation | It might be one of the best options for improved corn and canola yields
Nine years of replicated research by nine organizations gave twin row spacing with singulation and precise seed placement an 8.1 to 33.5 bushel per acre benefit in corn. That’s a significant increase, regardless of corn prices in any given year, because it comes without additional input costs. The only additional cost is the price of […] Read more
Kit makes dry fertilizer work in corn planter
Aulari aftermarket attachment | It’s a fit for corn growers looking to use granular fertilizer to improve yields and stay off the juice
Corn growers who want to put granular fertilizer through their planters have been out of luck for two decades. Planter manufacturers decided in the early 1990s that granular fertilizer was going out of style and that the sector was switching to liquid fertilizer. As a result, they discontinued their granular options. As one dealership sales […] Read more
Slope sensor’s quick response to pitch speeds tile drainage
HARWOOD, N.D. — Tile draining a quarter section, only to find it doesn’t work as expected, is a heartbreaking and budget busting experience. A ballpark figure for tile drain on the Prairies is $400 to $600 per acre. With the pipe buried one to two metres below the surface, digging and correcting thousands of metres […] Read more
Farm show marks 30 years
A popular event | Saskatoon hosts four-day show, organizers hope to beat 2012 attendance record
Thirty years ago a group of individuals from the University of Saskatchewan and Saskatoon Prairieland Park Corp. thought it would be a good idea to put on a chemical, fertilizer and seed show. After the inaugural Western Canadian Crop Production Show in January 1984, they decided it could become successful annual event given the right […] Read more
Spinning crop fibres into gas tanks
Assuming the biocomposite industry reaches its potential, Potter envisions a future in which flax and hemp growers will receive true value for the fibres inside those crops. In this future, a flax grower from Melita, Man., may see much more than flaxseed a few years from now when he looks over his field. “Not only […] Read more
From speck to success
Wilf Keller helped transform genetically modified canola from a green speck in a petri dish into the biggest moneymaker in Canadian agriculture. A technology that is now incorporated into 21 million acres of canola got its start in 1985 in the obscure Agriculture Canada lab he ran in Ottawa. Canola generated $7.3 billion in farm […] Read more
