Field Crop News

2019 Summer Jobs – Student Field Crop Assistant – Corn Agronomy and Nutrient Management

Ben Rosser March 15, 2019 1203 Comments Off

Job Term: Temporary for 16 weeks, beginning spring 2019 Salary: $14.85 / hour, based on a 36.25 hour work week Job Ad Closing Date: Friday, March 29, 2019 Available Positions/Locations: Position Focus Location Contact Person Corn Agronomy and Nutrient Management Guelph Ben Rosser and Christine Brown Are you serious about making your mark, getting hands-on work…

2019 Summer Jobs – Student Field Crop Assistant

OMAFRA Field Crop Team February 22, 2019 1762 Comments Off

Uncategorized

Job Term: Temporary for 16 weeks, beginning spring 2019 Salary: $14.85 / hour, based on a 36.25 hour work week Job Ad Closing Date: Friday, March 8, 2019 Available Positions/Locations: Position Focus Location Contact Person Field Crop Pathology Ridgetown Albert Tenuta Soil Management Ridgetown Adam Hayes Field Crop Entomology Ridgetown Tracey Baute Are you serious…

Sulphur Fertilizer Trial in Dry Edible Beans

OMAFRA Field Crop Team January 29, 2019 4154 Comments Off

Edible Beans

This article was written by Chris Gillard, University of Guelph- Ridgetown Campus. Sulphur is an important nutrient in field crops. It is part of the chlorophyll in leaves, two essential amino acids, and rhizobia bacteria need it for nitrogen fixation. Sulphur is mostly stored in soil organic matter (OM), and it is mineralized each summer as OM breaks down. Sulphur…

2018 Corn Seasonal Summary

OMAFRA Field Crop Team December 20, 2018 5324 Comments Off

Corn

Planting The March 2018 planting intentions report by Statistics Canada estimated Ontario farmers intended to plant 2.2 million acres of grain corn, comparing to a 5-year (2013-2017) average of 2.1 million acres (OMAFRA Crop Statistics). A cool April coupled with snow and freezing rain events through to the middle of the month limited early field work. A warm dry period…

To plant green or to plant brown? Rye cover crop termination timing before soybeans

Jake Munroe December 17, 2018 4332 Comments Off

Cover Crops

Go here for the updated version of this article. Cereal rye has several strengths as a cover crop option. It’s relatively inexpensive and easy to kill. Rye improves soil structure, builds organic matter and helps protect against water and wind erosion. It also competes with weeds, as Mike Cowbrough has written here (see Figure 1). However, in most cases, rye…

Soybean Seasonal Summary 2018

OMAFRA Field Crop Team December 13, 2018 5131 Comments Off

Crop Reports

Summary The saying in cropping “rain makes grain” was certainly true for soybeans in 2018. Above average rainfall in late July and August resulted in the highest provincial yields on record. What makes this achievement especially impressive is that much of May, June, and even the first half of July were very dry. At the end of the day Ontario…

New Soil Fertility Handbook Released!

Jake Munroe December 11, 2018 4207 Comments Off

Soil Fertility

Did you know that OMAFRA has a handbook that’s all about nutrients and soil fertility? It’s called the Soil Fertility Handbook and was first published in 1998. The book covers topics such as soil testing, soil pH and lime and fertilizer application. There’s a chapter on organic nutrient sources, like manure, biosolids and cover crops, as well as tips for…

Cereals Seasonal Summary 2018

Figure 2. Severe head snag in winter wheat caused by high temperatures. Photo courtesy of Alex Zelem.

OMAFRA Field Crop Team December 6, 2018 7266 Comments Off

Crop Reports

Fall 2017 Planting Planting conditions started off well and continued through to mid-October with little disruption. Rainfall around Thanksgiving weekend halted soybean harvest and subsequently winter wheat planting but once conditions dried up planting continued through to November. Approximately 906,000 acres of winter wheat were seeded which is slightly down from the previous year’s 910,000 acres. The proportion of hard…

DON in corn silage

OMAFRA Field Crop Team December 4, 2018 3763 Comments Off

Corn

In properly ensiled corn silage, research has not shown an increase in mycotoxins from levels in the crop at harvest. Fusarium species, the fungi that produce DON, do not like low oxygen, low pH environments, so if corn goes through the proper ensiling process fusarium should no longer be active and able to produce DON. It takes at least three…

How to dry soybeans in a bin

Figure 2: Estimated time for natural air drying of soybeans, with and without additional heat added. EMC values indicate the final grain moisture after drying. Temperature and Relative Humidity (RH) are based on 30-year average data from London, Ontario.

James Dyck December 3, 2018 11281 Comments Off

Soybean

The wet fall and delayed harvest of 2018 has left a lot of Ontario soybeans still in the field. This is a big deal, especially for farmers who are growing Identity-Preserved (IP) soybeans with a premium of several dollars per bushel! And the main question growers are asking: If my beans are wet, can I bin-dry them with regular air? …

Edible Bean Seasonal Summary 2018

Figure 4. Harvest of these white beans was delayed by 3 weeks after desiccation because of rain, resulting in fungal growth and poor quality.

OMAFRA Field Crop Team November 29, 2018 3543 Comments Off

Crop Reports

Planting and Development The dry edible bean season started out positively with good planting conditions at the end of May and beginning of June. There was not much rain in the last half of May, and by May 28th temperatures were reaching 30˚C with no risk of frost. A large proportion of the dry beans were planted in the first…

Sustainable Farmland Agreements

Adam Hayes November 27, 2018 2289 Comments Off

Soil Health

As the harvest season winds down many farmers begin to think about talking to their non-farming land owners about farming the land next year. Non-farming land owners are also preparing for discussions with a familiar grower or with a new one. According to the Farm and Food Care Ontario website over 35% or 4 million acres of farmland is…

Spaces to Breathe and Grow

Sebastian Belliard November 26, 2018 4526 Comments Off

Soil Health

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…

Is there a Safe Rate of In-Furrow Fertilizer for Soybeans?

Horst Bohner November 23, 2018 10232 Comments Off

Soybean

Some crops respond well to seed placed fertilizer. Applying phosphorus to wheat in-furrow has become standard practice for many growers. The amount of fertilizer that can be applied safely depends on the crop species, the type of fertilizer, the rate, soil type and soil moisture. Complete crop failures are possible if the seed or seedling is “burned” with excess fertilizer….

Canola Seasonal Summary

Figure 3. Diamond back moth larvae (credit: www.canolawatch.org)

OMAFRA Field Crop Team November 22, 2018 2289 Comments Off

Crop Reports

Planting and Development In 2018 there was an increase in spring canola acreage in Ontario compared to the previous two years. Insured acres totaled approximately 30,000 ac in 2016 and 2017, whereas there was nearly 40,000 ac insured by Agricorp in 2018. Canola acreage increased across many regions, but the most notable increase was the jump from approximately 8,000 ac…