Sebastian Belliard, Soil Management Specialist, OMAFRA While managing soil microbes might be the newest frontier to improving soil health, one thing has not changed: you cannot improve soil you no longer have! Minimizing erosion is the first step in a soil health management plan. The old adage says: “you can only manage what you measure”, but actually measuring soil erosion…
Sebastian Belliard April 16, 2020 393 Comments Off on Cobourg + Winchester Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting – April 15, 2020April 15th, 2020 Overall conditions This spring is starting out with generally favourable weather, particularly when compared with last year. The winter months were also less harsh, resulting in fewer issues with winterkill in forages and winter cereals. Heavy rains and subsequent cold temperatures in the last few weeks have resulted in some kill in depressions where ponding occurred. In…
The benefits of earthworms in agricultural soils and how to reap them Earthworms are the ecosystem engineers of the soil. In most terrestrial ecosystems they represent the most abundant belowground biomass1, and in the same way beavers create habitat for a host of other species to thrive, earthworms make the soil ecosystem work. They help to break down and incorporate…
Sebastian Belliard June 26, 2019 821 Comments Off on Winchester Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting Minutes June 25th, 2019Quote of the day: “That’s a really hot boom…” – discussing herbicide injury from incompletely cleaned spraying equipment. Sponsor: Thanks to Marc Maisonneuve (Brevant ) and Chris Olbach (Pioneer) for sponsoring the last breakfast meeting of the season! Conditions Crop Heat Unit (CHU) accumulation stands at 775 at the Ottawa Airport since May 1st, or 175 units behind the normal…
Feature Image Photo Credit: Doug Rogers. We all know about the many benefits that cover crops can provide, from erosion control to forage production and overall increased soil health. But there are limited opportunities to establish cover crops in typical Ontario field crop rotations. There is simply not enough time, temperature, or sunlight to get a worthwhile cover crop established…
Sebastian Belliard June 12, 2019 1017 Comments Off on Winchester Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting Minutes June 11th, 2019Quote of the Week: “Lots of sins in the field – we need the rains to hide them.” Conditions Since May 1st the area has accumulated 475 crop heat units (CHU) as of June 11th, 150 less than the 30-year average. Rainfall accumulation is actually 10mm less than average at the Ottawa airport, but patchy weather patterns make it hard…
We are all aware of the imperative to minimize compaction, but with crop quality on the line, tough choices have to be made on the trade-off between the grain quality and potential income from this year’s crop, and future yield and cost of production due to compaction losses or increased tillage passes. There have been plenty of good tips…
Sebastian Belliard June 28, 2018 1265 Comments Off on Winchester Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting – June 26, 2018Notable Quotable: “Corn will tassel on July 17th at 2:35pm.” – Gilles Quesnel General conditions Rain blessed parts of the region in the past week but often not enough to be effective, and many areas are still drier than desired. Some wilting has been observed on lighter-textured ground, but many heavier soils are still holding good moisture. We need…
