Saving half a season | Fall-seeded crop can help growers can pull a rabbit out of their cap
It is estimated that four to five million prairie acres went unseeded this year or were seeded and then flooded. But don’t write them all off. “It’s a good opportunity to get winter wheat into the ground and take your profit in 2015,” says Bruce Burnett, CWB’s director of weather and market analysis. “Where you […] Read moreTag Archives Agronomy
80 percent mature heads ideal time for pre-harvest glyphosate
I had an interesting question from a grower this week. The question was “What is the operation that if I screw up, costs me the most money?” Basically, he was asking for an evaluation of his practices and suggestions on how he could improve. This is different from most questions from farmers. Most want to […] Read more
Alberta farmers challenged by lodging
Crops can recover | Rain and excessive nitrogen and seeding rates can contribute to problem
Flattened grain fields are not mysterious crop circles but symptoms of lodging when too much rain knocks over vulnerable barley and wheat. Crop specialist Neil Whatley of Alberta Agriculture said lodging has been more widespread in cereal crops for the last four years in parts of central and northern Alberta, where lush growth causes weak-stemmed […] Read more
First frost dates pushed
Today’s farmers have a lot more time to grow a crop than those that came before them. The numbers should provide some comfort to growers in Western Canada, where crops in many regions that aren’t affected by floodwaters are delayed following a cool spring and plenty of rain in the early summer. “Farmers, I think, […] Read more
Second spray pass may be waste of money
Pretty, but not profitable | The first pass does most of the work and producers don’t need to kill every last weed, says expert
Farmers are struggling to complete their first in-crop application of herbicide, but those who are already contemplating a second pass later this year should think twice, say experts. “There’s a lot of cases where economically you don’t see a benefit from the second application,” said Murray Hartman, an oilseed specialist with Alberta Agriculture. It may […] Read more
Canola to get help from bacteria
Researchers at XiteBio Technologies are focusing on commercializing a natural rhizobia to benefit canola. Early field tests show that the Yield+ product increases canola yields by as much as 11 percent. The company also has projects underway with microbials that will benefit wheat, corn and other crops, said president Manas Banerjee. “Everything we do at […] Read more
Sask. sprayer takes fertilizer to the skies
Miccar Aerial | Yorkton, Sask., pilot is testing a practice that’s already used in the United States
Michael Yaholnitsky wants farmers to think above the ground and re-imagine how fertilizer can be applied. Yaholnitsky, who owns Miccar Aerial, a crop spraying company in Yorkton, Sask., expanded his business this spring to include dry fertilizer. He already has a couple of customers for the unique service. In late May, a Miccar Aerial plane […] Read more
Eye in the sky tells no lies
Drone chopper | Battery-powered machine scouts fields slowly, precisely and costs half as much
If the $75,000 US price tag on a gas-powered field-scouting AutoCopter G15 is too expensive, the company has just released a battery-powered version called SuperScout for about half the price. The original AutoCopter G15, which was introduced three years ago, has a six-foot rotor span and is powered by a small two-cycle en-gine. It has […] Read more
Balance fertilizer rate, grain prices for optimal returns
Producers considering reduced nitrogen rates this spring because of lower commodity prices should not reduce rates by the same percentage that they expect prices to fall. The Manitoba Nitrogen Rate of Return Calculator makes this crystal clear. Using multiples of 10 to simplify the example, let’s start with wheat at $10 per bushel grown with […] Read more
Weed resistance spreads fast in U.S.
Palmer amaranth and glyphosate | Researcher says zero tolerance threshold is required
The seeds from a single glyphosate resistant weed can destroy an entire crop. University of Arkansas scientists released seeds from a glyphosate resistant Palmer amaranth weed onto test cotton fields in the winter of 2008. By the summer of 2010, it had infested 95 to 100 percent of the test fields. “(It caused) complete crop […] Read more
