We’re moving into prime white mould season — mid-summer and into August. While conditions were very favourable for disease development through June (wet and cool), mid-to-late July’s heat and dry conditions could have slowed progress of the disease. While you won’t be able to gauge infection levels in soybeans without scouting (hint: go do that… Read More

Phosphorus is essential for growing crops, but it becomes a pollutant when too much of it moves into waterways, including major water bodies like Lake Erie. How climate and management practices, such as tile drainage and tillage, impact the movement of nutrients from farm fields into the water system is the focus of much of… Read More

You can’t change the weather and you can’t influence crop prices, but you can agronomy proof your crop plan, says Deb Campbell, agronomist with Agronomy Advantage. As winter ever so slowly releases its grip on Ontario, Campbell says farmers can do plenty of planning now to tip yield in their favour, but it’s going to… Read More

These aren’t your daddy’s corn hybrids. If you think modern corn hybrids are leaps and bounds more productive than what you were planting 15 or years ago, you’re right. But thinking so and knowing so (and how) are two different things, and for that you need research. Tony Vyn, of Purdue University, has looked at… Read More

Just like there are many strains of the common cold and the flu, plant diseases can be caused by “races” of the same pathogen. Northern corn leaf blight is one disease that has at least 13 strains — four to six of which affect corn crops in Ontario. In this episode of the Agronomy Geeks… Read More

Farmers have been collecting data since the first yield maps appeared 20 to 30 years ago. The promise then was that farmers would be able to turn data into management decisions that would benefit their bottom line. For most farmers, though, that has yet to happen. In this episode of the Agronomy Geeks Ontario podcast,… Read More

The disease pressure landscape changes as the season progresses and from year to year, but there are always the endemic threats that farmers have to manage for. Part of the disease scouting process includes knowing what to look for, including some new or rare pests that could be making their way into your growing region…. Read More

Producers are starting to see fields of green, as we roll into the middle of June. This means it’s time for those boots to hit the field (again/still), as scouting for disease and insect pressure, nutrient deficiencies and undesirable plants is crucial to understanding the health of plant populations and maximizing yields through subsequent management decisions. In… Read More

As May ticks away, farmers in Ontario continue to wrestle with difficult planting conditions. In this episode of the Agronomy Geeks Ontario podcast, Bernard Tobin and Syngenta agronomic sales manager Shawn Brenneman discuss the pace of #plant14 and the decisions farmers are facing. As of May 21, Brenneman estimates that 40 to 50 percent of… Read More

As the cool, wet spring drags on in Ontario, many farmers are wrestling with whether they have time for tillage or should they just plant as soon as the soil is fit. In this episode of the Agronomy Geeks Ontario podcast, Bernard Tobin talks tillage strategy with Salford Farm Machinery’s Jim Boak. Are certain types… Read More