The OMAFRA Soil Team recently hosted a three-part webinar series on strip-tillage. Each event focused on a different aspect of strip-till and featured four different farmer speakers from across Ontario. To view the recordings, check out the videos below. Timing & Tools: Shank vs. Coulter and Spring vs. Fall (recorded December 8th, 2020): Strip-Till and Cover Crops: How Do They…
Presentations and Videos
Tracey Baute October 26, 2020 994 Comments Off on Understanding the Impact and Measures Needed to Address Bt Resistant RootwormWhy be concerned about the Bt resistant rootworm populations showing up in Ontario? Dr. Jocelyn Smith, University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus stands in a field that has cross resistant rootworm. The grower experienced more than 50% yield loss in this 2nd year silage corn field planted with a pyramid hybrid in 2020. Jocelyn discusses the impacts of these resistant rootworm…
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 deposits of sand, such as…
Jake Munroe September 23, 2020 616 Comments Off on Getting to Know Your Knolls Part 1: Understanding and Managing High pH KnollsJake 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 they’ve formed and how they…
Innovations in Manure Application Equipment Wouldn’t it be nice if liquid manure application could wait until after corn planting was completed, with little risk of compaction or damage to corn plants? It may be the dog-days of summer, but kicking tires at an equipment demonstration and field day is a good way to evaluate how the newest technology may fit…
I took the above video in 2010 when a lot of corn was planted in mid April and had emerged nicely only to be hit with a frost in May. Although the injury looked bad at the time, because the growing point was below the ground the crop made a complete recovery and 2010 saw record high provincial corn yields….
Manure Injection – New technology = More Options The goal: To increase the opportunities for injecting manure into a variety of growing crops with nutrient placement as similar to commercial fertilizer placement as possible. Traditional manure injection combined manure application with primary or secondary tillage gives the benefit of full disturbance of the soil profile allowing ideal mixing of manure…
I’m working on an early warning system for producers, which will be able to identify diseases before they are visible in the field. Below is a video that the University of Guelph SPARK (Students Promoting Awareness of Research Knowledge) put that nicely summarizes the project.
Winter wheat is one of the few crops that provide a second opportunity to assess the crop in spring and replant to another crop if winter survival is not acceptable. Assess the wheat crop during April and early May. Leave the replant decision as late as possible to accurately determine plant stand and plant health. Table 1. Determining Yield Potential…
Christine Brown October 12, 2011 1820 Comments Off on Equipment Profile: Liquid Manure Injection in ForagesThere are many benefits to liquid manure applications made after forage harvest. Ideally you want an applicator that uniformly applies the liquid manure. The video below shows a liquid tank applicator with a unique toolbar having a series of coulters that go into the ground at a depth of about 1 inch or 2.5 cm. Rubber slurry outlets then place…