Fall 2021/Winter 2022 Fall of 2021 was warm and open. Many regions of the province saw heavier fall growth in hay fields and pastures than normal because of the late killing frost. While this does not pose any issues for alfalfa, excessive top growth can cause smothering in grass/clover stands. Average to above-average precipitation between […]
Winter Cereals Untimely rainfalls have been putting a damper on field work across the province. The last few days have seen growers and agronomists walking fields and evaluating winterkill in both forages and winter cereals. While there are some losses in the region, particularly in low lying areas of heavier soils, the consensus is that […]
Farming is a stressful occupation at any time. However, recent world events have created significant pressures on farming operations and those who support them. While mental health has come a long way in recognition and over coming stigma, many still try to “go it alone”! While most of us are not trained in mental health, […]
Winter wheat: Applied nitrogen varies from region to region, but significant progress has been made over the last week. Estimates range from < 50% to 75% of acreage having received an application of nitrogen. Some producers that have pushed higher nitrogen rates (150 lbs N/acre) last year have opted to cut back this year by […]
Simple Summary When applying moderate amounts of P&K fertilizer (60 lb/ac of both P2O5 and K2O) at ~4″ depth with a shank-style strip tiller across 15 trials on medium to light soil textures and low to moderate soil fertility: Yields of spring strip till and P&K were significantly higher (+4 bu/ac) than where P&K was […]
Due to cool temperatures and wet conditions (in some areas) over the past week, essentially no meaningful acreage of corn or soybeans have been planted. Most field activities thus far have been field preparation such as manure applications and tillage Winter Wheat Fields that went into last winter in good shape, with uniform emergence and […]
Field Activities: Nitrogen has been applied to some winter wheat fields, but most of the crop is still without. As field and weather conditions improve, field activities will ramp up. Supply chain: Representatives from seed and crop protection providers indicated that everything appears to be in good shape at this point. Winter wheat: Fields that […]
The 2022 Great Lakes and Maritimes Pest Monitoring Network (GLMPMN) is up and running for the 2022 season. We are monitoring for black cutworm (BCW), corn earworm (CEW), European corn borer (ECB), fall armyworm (FAW), true armyworm (TAW) and western bean cutworm (WBC) across the region and are providing an interactive real-time map and trap […]
The week of April 17-23 is National Soil Conservation Week this year. As the Soil Conservation Council of Canada says, soil is a big deal. It’s the foundation of agriculture. It’s a precious resource and, as I’ve written before, can easily be lost and degraded. To mark this week, I wanted to share some resources […]
It snowed across much of the province on April 18th. Most areas have not completed much field work yet, though some of the southern-most counties have started applying nitrogen to winter wheat. Cereals While many parts of the province still have not had enough warm weather for accurate winter wheat stand assessments, in general earlier […]
Have the CCA App? Use your smart phone/device to scan the QR code placed on the screen toward the end of each meeting. Don’t have the CCA App? If you don’t have the CCA App which allows you to quickly apply for CEU credits for live or virtual events that you attend, you may collect […]
Simple Summary MERN stands for the Most Economic Rate of Nitrogen, the rate that maximizes economic returns to N fertilizer MERN is influenced most strongly by variability in N response across environments (fields, parts of fields, growing seasons) MERN is also influenced by changes in corn and nitrogen fertilizer prices, but very significant changes in […]
13 April 2022 at 8:00 AM Agribusiness breakfast meetings will be paired and held virtually by video conference on the Zoom platform again in 2022. The first Cobourg/Winchester virtual ag breakfast meeting was held April 13th. Meetings will be every second week until the end of June. The next call will be on April 27th. […]
The first Exeter-Mt Forest breakfast meeting occurred on April 12 at 8:00am and will continue on Zoom every other week through to June 21st. Conditions remain cool and seeding is not yet underway. However, some soil temperatures of 7-10C have been observed. There may be some tillage happening on light soils but for the most […]
In a year with higher than average rainfall, it can be a challenge to find a long enough window of dry weather to make high quality horse hay. These conditions sometimes prompt equestrians to investigate alternative sources of forage. How are forage crops preserved? Understanding how forage crops are preserved is the first step in […]