Why organic no-till? Organic soybean production relies on a significant amount of tillage. When done well, yields can rival conventional production. There are drawbacks, however, including a high labour demand in the spring and the potential for soil degradation over time. Cover crop-based organic no-till soybean production techniques have been developed in recent years and proven to work in parts…
Jake Munroe, Mike Cowbrough and Sebastian Belliard (OMAFRA) Cereal rye (Secale cereale) 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 can suppress weeds as discussed here (see Figure 1). It’s also very winter hardy and often the…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team August 15, 2019 892 Comments Off on Exeter Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting Minutes –August 13, 2019Thank you to Martin Harry for chairing the mid-summer meeting and to Bill Norman (Belchim Crop Protection) for sponsoring breakfast. Thank you to those who came out to all the meetings this season. Synopsis: The status of crops varies in the region with some areas not looking too bad while others are showing signs of moisture stress with growers…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team June 26, 2019 813 Comments Off on Exeter Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting Minutes – June 25, 2019Thank you to Alex Zelem (C&M Seeds) who chaired the meeting and to Chris Meier (A&L Labs) for sponsoring breakfast. This was the last spring meeting for 2019. This year’s meetings have been the best attended since these meetings started over 20 years ago so thanks to everyone who attended. Since this has been such an unprecedented spring, a follow…
Jake Munroe June 20, 2019 1035 Comments Off on Heartland and Eastern Valley Soil and Crop Tier Two Project, 2018-2020: Pushing the Management of Cover Crop RyeAchieving sufficient biomass from cover crops is essential to reaping their soil benefits. Dr. Humberto Blanco, Professor of Soil Management and Applied Physics at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, spoke recently at the University of Guelph about his cover crop research. He concluded that when cover crop biomass is less than 0.5 ton/acre (see Figure 1), benefits – such as improved soil…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team May 16, 2019 797 Comments Off on Exeter Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting Minutes – May 14, 2019Thank you to Joanna Wallace for chairing the meeting and to Corteva for sponsoring the breakfast. The next meeting will be on May 28th starting at 7:00 am for breakfast (meeting starts at 7:30). Synopsis: Very little planting progress has been made in the region with much of the area receiving rainfall over the weekend again keeping things saturated. Some…
Jake Munroe December 17, 2018 3595 Comments Off on To plant green or to plant brown? Rye cover crop termination timing before soybeansGo 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…
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? …
OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 16, 2018 1879 Comments Off on Ridgetown Ag Breakfast Meeting Minutes – April 10, 2018Breakfast Sponsor: Thanks from the group to “Richard Anderson – BASF Canada“ Quote of the week – If you need anything other than glyphosate up front – you haven’t been doing a good job.” Roger Bourassa And a couple more: “Resistant Weeds Cost More Money” and “Not hard finding a tillage resistant weed” Synopsis: There is snow on the ground…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team June 17, 2016 1953 Comments Off on Mt Forest Ag Breakfast Meeting Minutes – June 14, 2016There is still a lot of field activity happening, but the real busy rush is starting to slow down. Accumulated heat units are shown in the table below. Thanks Bill Brown and FS Partners for sponsoring breakfast. The June 14 meeting was the last of the year at Mt Forest, and we thank everyone for participating. Corn Most corn is at…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team May 14, 2016 2148 Comments Off on Winchester AgBreakfast Meeting Notes – May 10, 2016Conditions: Sunny and dry conditions over the last 2 weeks were ideal for field work. Temperatures were below normal for the period. From May 1st to 9th, the area received less than 10 mm rain and roughly 65 CHU, while the 30 year average is 20 mm for precipitation and 90 for CHU. Forages: Forage growth is about 5 day…
Below are 10 herbicide injury scenarios applied to 4 different soybean varieties, specifically, Liberty Link (glufosinate tolerant), Enlist (glufosinate, glyphosate and 2,4-D tolerant), Xtend (glyphosate and dicamba tolerant) and Roundup Ready (glyphosate tolerant). Since it is possible that both Enlist and Xtend varieties may be available for the 2016 growing season, one of the main objectives of the stop was…
Nicole Rabe June 26, 2015 490 Comments Off on Precision Ag Advancement in Ontario – Grain Farmers Ontario – Spring UpdateIn 2013, Grain Farmers of Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) met with a number of farm service companies and producers to discuss what obstacles exist to farmers getting started with precision agriculture techniques. The group created a list of research topics that would benefit farmers and consultants in Ontario and committed to a…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team May 14, 2015 2154 Comments Off on Winchester AgBreakfast Minutes May 12, 2015Conditions: Warm, sunny and dry conditions over the last 2 weeks were ideal for field work. Timely rains May 10-12 brought 20 mm (5 to 50 mm) of welcome precipitation across eastern Ontario. With most of the cereals, new forage seedings, corn and part of the soybean acreage seeded/planted between April 27th and May 10th, the fertilizer/seed supply/delivery chain was…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team May 15, 2013 1911 Comments Off on Winchester Ag Breakfast Meeting, May 14th, 2013From May 1st to 12th, accumulations of 15 to 30 mm of rain and 220 Crop Heat Units (CHU) were recorded. The long term average for this same period is about 130 CHU. There was frost on May 14th across eastern Ontario with a low of -2o to -3o C. Little damage expected as the corn growing point was still…
