This article was written by Alex Barrie, OMAFRA Soil Management Engineer, and Ian McDonald, OMAFRA Crop Innovations Specialist As discussed in the previous article (available here), as long as we are putting heavy implements on farm fields, soil compaction is a significant possibility. Lots of factors impact the severity of threat, like load, tire configurations […]
I spoke with an agronomist about a grower who started variable rating nitrogen (N) in corn. Logically, given that high yielding corn takes up more N than low yielding corn, the grower was going to variable rate N by yield across the field – more in high yielding areas, less in low yielding areas. The […]
For many Ontario farmers, the 2021 season has been a weather roller coaster. Throughout much of the province, the season started out extremely dry, with some regions receiving less than 20% of normal precipitation for the month of May (Figure 1). Late June brought relief for many parts of Southern Ontario, with regular rainfall […]
Assessing Soybean Performance Soybean harvest has begun, and yields have generally been good. Many growers are reporting above average yields. But there are fields that underperformed. For those fields that yielded less than expected, it’s important to assess why in order to make good management decisions for the future. Sometimes we blame the weather or […]
There has been considerable discussion around tar spot disease in corn this season and of course many questions as well. Let’s go over some of these questions! Where did Tar Spot common from? In 2015, Tar Spot was confirmed in the Midwest US (Indiana/Illinois) where it was believed to have been blown in from Mexico […]
Managing phosphorus for improved water quality: best practices depend on where you farm Thanks to drier-than-normal spring seasons the past two years, harmful algae blooms in 2020 and 2021 in the western basin of Lake Erie have not been as severe as in preceding years. Phosphorus (P) loading to the lake, however, remains an important […]
What Will Be the Corn Nitrogen Story for 2021? While the 2021 growing season started dry, regular and often heavy rains started for many areas from Southern to Eastern Ontario from late June through July. Some received well above normal rainfall in July. Naturally, conversations began revolving around “are we losing nitrogen (N)” or “will […]