Join us for the 2nd visit to participating farms excited to show you their journeys in BioStrip Till, Strip Till, Green Planting and No Till Cropping systems across the province September 6-9th, 2022. Please read the entire post for more details. […]
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 […]
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 […]
If we are going to put big equipment into farm fields, soil compaction will continue to be a threat. Farm equipment, especially that which carries heavy loads (spreaders, sprayers, planters, grain wagons) needs to be configured to support that maximum load under road conditions. This often requires significantly higher tire pressures than what should […]
Big crops mean big residue left behind! One the positives of big residues means lots of organic matter to return to the soil, which supports soil health and return or cycling of various nutrients like P, K and micros. All of this supports microbial life, reduces the potential for soil erosion by helping to […]
Ben Rosser, Corn Specialist, OMAFRA While high pH knolls tend to be more common in Ontario, often caused by soil erosion leaving higher pH calcareous subsoils, this is not the case for all regions. How do low pH knolls develop? Low pH knolls (Figure 1) can develop on undulating landscapes where surface soils formed from […]
Jake Munroe, Soil Management Specialist – Field Crops, OMAFRA We’ve all seen them. Hilltops. Whitecaps. High spots where the crop struggles year after year. Eroded knolls are common to Ontario agriculture and cost farmers in lost productivity each season. However, not all eroded knolls are alike. In this two-part series, we will explore knolls: how […]
Christine Brown, Sustainability Specialist – Field Crops, OMAFRA “A radical new way of thinking about soil has partially solved the mystery of why adding manure improves resilience, climate control, and crop yields.” – Dr. Andy Neal, Rothamsted Research. Have you ever wondered why forests can establish and thrive without being fertilized? Or, why grasslands, pastures, […]
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 is very complicated, even for experts in this field. There’s no need to measure Cesium isotopes along that slope in your field. What needs to be managed is the risk of erosion. […]
Keeping soil covered and minimizing erosion is a key principle of soil health. Maximizing the efficiency of crop nutrient uptake and minimizing losses are the foundation of 4R Nutrient Stewardship. When combined, these principles form the basis of a new online tool from OMAFRA called PLATO (Phosphorus Loss Assessment Tool for Ontario). PLATO is a calculator that you can use to estimate the risk of phosphorus loss on your farm. It’s part of the newly re-vamped AgriSuite and uses your specific soil, crop and nutrient application information to provide a risk rating and options to improve your score. […]
It’s the time of year when you can see the impact of erosion on farm fields across the province. Whether it’s subtle (Figure 1) or obvious (Figure 2), erosion affects soil by reducing fertility, decreasing organic matter and lowering productivity. With National Soil Conservation Week happening from April 19th to 25th, I wanted to highlight […]
Written by Ian McDonald, Crop Innovations Specialist, OMAFRA and Alex Barrie, Soil Management Engineer, OMAFRA The impact of farm equipment causing soil compaction is primarily a function of soil moisture at the time of traffic coupled with the total weight, axle load and tire pressure of the implement. By lowering the tire pressure, we reduce […]
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 […]
Published in Ontario Farmer June 4th, 2019. Authors Ian McDonald and Alex Barrie, OMAFRA and Peter Johnson, RealAgriculture It’s hard to put any more adjectives to the frustration of this springs weather. In 2019 “all bets are off” on what is the right thing to do in terms of planting timeliness, and how, when and […]
