soybeans | Field Crop News

Cover Crop-Based Organic No-Till Soybean Production In Ontario

Alexandra Collingwood November 3, 2020 888 Comments Off

While there are many benefits of organic agriculture, one of the potential downsides can be the frequent requirement for tillage, in particular during the soybean production phase. Excessive tillage is known to have negative impacts on soil structure and soil health as a whole. In an effort to reduce the tillage requirement for combating weeds in organic soybean production in…

OMAFRA Field Crop Report – July 16, 2020

Figure 1. Black beans at early pin pod growth stage.

OMAFRA Field Crop Team July 16, 2020 951 Comments Off

Crop Reports

Dry beans are either approaching flowering or have already started flowering across Ontario. White mold is an important disease of dry beans in Ontario and in-crop management of white mold occurs during flowering. White mold spores can land on stems, leaves or pods but deteriorating flower petals are very susceptible to infection. Spores colonize flower tissue, and the disease enters…

Exeter + Mt Forest Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting Minutes – May 26, 2020

OMAFRA Field Crop Team May 27, 2020 551 Comments Off

Ag Business Minutes

Weather: Warmer conditions starting late last week have fast-tracked crop growth. Tracking growing degree day (GDD) accumulation – Base 0 – for April and May in Huron county revealed 159 GGD in April and 244 GDD from May 1-25. Rainfall during the past week was sporadic with isolated thunderstorms resulting in flooded fields in one location and no rainfall…

Organic no-till soybean production: is it possible in Ontario?

Jake Munroe April 7, 2020 1646 2 Comments

Cover Crops

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…

To plant green or to plant brown? Rye cover crop termination timing before soybeans (updated with 2019 data)

Jake Munroe March 30, 2020 1604 2 Comments

Cover Crops

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…

Exeter Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting Minutes –August 13, 2019

OMAFRA Field Crop Team August 15, 2019 1186 Comments Off

Ag Business Minutes

Thank 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…

Exeter Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting Minutes – June 25, 2019

OMAFRA Field Crop Team June 26, 2019 1046 Comments Off

Ag Business Minutes

Thank 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…

Heartland and Eastern Valley Soil and Crop Tier Two Project, 2018-2020: Pushing the Management of Cover Crop Rye

Jake Munroe June 20, 2019 1329 Comments Off

Cover Crops

Achieving 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…

Exeter Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting Minutes – May 14, 2019

OMAFRA Field Crop Team May 16, 2019 1043 Comments Off

Ag Business Minutes

Thank 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…

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

Jake Munroe December 17, 2018 4649 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…

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 11952 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? …

Ridgetown Ag Breakfast Meeting Minutes – April 10, 2018

OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 16, 2018 2149 Comments Off

Ag Business Minutes

Breakfast 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…

Mt Forest Ag Breakfast Meeting Minutes – June 14, 2016

OMAFRA Field Crop Team June 17, 2016 2175 Comments Off

Ag Business Minutes

There 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…

Winchester AgBreakfast Meeting Notes – May 10, 2016

OMAFRA Field Crop Team May 14, 2016 2443 Comments Off

Ag Business Minutes

Conditions: 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…

Herbicide Injury Scenarios in Soybean – 2015 Ridgetown Diagnostic Days

Mike Cowbrough July 15, 2015 10498 1 Comment

Weeds

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…