How plant tissue testing plays a vital role in indentifying nutrient imbalances, improving fertilizer efficiency and boosting crop yields
Tag Archives cover crops
Plant tissue testing key to maximizing crop health and yield: experts
Regular tissue analysis helps farmers detect nutrient deficiencies early, optimize fertilizer use and improve overall crop performance
Alberta research group takes a look at cover crops
Farming Smarter finds that cover crops work in southern Alberta, but careful management required
Some farmers see yield risks, increased costs and management challenges, but cover crops can also help fight wind erosion, which happens frequently in this gusty region.
Soil health skepticism prevalent
Survey finds that many farmers see it as a contemporary fad
For five to 10 years, soil scientists and the federal government have been selling “soil health” and promoting farm practices that improve soil health. However, many Prairie farmers aren’t buying it.
![A top-down approach [to regenerative agriculture] can work, maybe, but it does have limitations. Some food and agriculture companies have realized that this movement should be handed back to farmers, says University of Washington geologist David Montgomery. | File photo](https://static.producer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/22141434/03-RKA121018_david_montgomery2-660x420.jpg)
Regenerative agriculture resumes bottom-up approach
MINNEAPOLIS — In 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of artificial intelligence, David Montgomery was encouraging farmers and the agricultural industry to make a major shift. The University of Washington geologist and author of the book Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations was a regular speaker at farm conferences across North America. Related stories […] Read more
Sustainability has a problem
MINNEAPOLIS — Mars has a problem. Not the red planet, but the company. It’s one of the largest human and pet food companies in the world, posting $50 billion in revenue last year. Related stories in this issue: Global sales have been increasing, and this year the privately held company acquired the Kellogg’s line of […] Read more
Caution needed when feeding brassica forages to cattle
Polycrops have become a more commonplace method of feeding beef cattle in Western Canada over the past number of years. They may also be known as intercrops, cover crops or cocktail crops but all involve a mixture of plant species that may range from three to more than 20 species. Polycrops can provide grazing when […] Read more
Diversity called key to strong cover crops
Diverse mixes beneficial for forage production and soil health, but it depends on what producers want to do on their farms
Glacier FarmMedia – MELFORT, Sask. — For some, cover crops come from anything available to keep things green through the shoulder season. For others, they’re a carefully curated recipe to make specific improvements in a field. The blend demonstrated in late July at the Melfort Crop Diagnostic School was closer to the second option. It […] Read more
Farms can be made pollinator friendly
Glacier FarmMedia – Producers pay a lot of attention to inputs, seeding rates and combine settings to expand profit margins. According to ag entomology experts, they should also pay attention to pollinator populations and diversity. That means more than honeybees. In Saskatchewan, there are up to 400 different species of bees that contribute as pollinators. […] Read more
Sustainability scoring service gets upgrade
WINNIPEG — Archer Daniels Midland and the Farmers Business Network are collaborating on a new venture that could help growers get more value from sustainable practices. On Aug. 19, ADM and FBN announced plans to expand a platform called Gradable and operate it as a 50-50 joint venture. “Gradable is rapidly becoming one of the […] Read more
Cover crops pose challenge for Prairie farmers
Practice called difficult, although not impossible, within existing production systems such as herbicide-tolerant canola
Glacier FarmMedia – Cover crops can provide benefits, but incorporating them into other cropping systems, especially when growing herbicide-tolerant crops including canola, can be a challenge. That’s the topic of the latest research by Yvonne Lawley, an associate professor in the University of Manitoba plant science department. She was the key speaker at a July […] Read more
