This is going to be the year for cagey planning, according to Manitoba agronomists Wendy Kostur of Gilbert Plains and Jason Voogt of Carman. The two big factors are last year’s drought, which has left moisture levels low, combined with this year’s input costs, they told the Manitoba Agronomist Conference earlier this winter. “This is
This is a year for a plan when planting
Have Plans A, B and C in place this spring, agronomists say
Soil fertility a high-stakes game
Playing the right cards at the right time is key in this cost environment
Farming has its highs and lows and right now input prices are high while — despite our snowpack — soil moisture reserves are low. This puts farmers into a high-stakes poker game where there could be considerable rewards for proper fertilizing but there could also be a penalty for skimping and starving your crop. Retired
The elephant in the field
Farmers say when it comes to rented land, they’re fighting the battle alone
Farmers know that sustained production depends on how well they treat their land so it’s in their interest to keep it as healthy as they can. But what if the land is rented? Are the principles of stewardship practised as well on land that isn’t theirs? And do landowners understand the benefits of good stewardship
Spray is scarce. Here’s how you can make it stretch
With a looming chemical shortage, it’s going to be important to do more with less this spring
A host of seemingly unrelated incidents including another round of COVID-19, the upcoming Winter Olympics and the current world supply chain issues have brought about an odd perfect storm. The component chemistries that make up herbicides are harder to get, so herbicides are not as plentiful and they’re more expensive. Consequently farmers may have to
Getting the lay of the land
Laser-based mapping technology is taking the measure of Manitoba’s topography in minute detail
We know that life on an old glacial lake bed means periodic — and sometimes spectacular — spring flooding. In future we may also see greater amounts of summer rain as the climate warms and that could mean more frequent, locally destructive floods throughout the growing season. Building local climate resilience means managing more water
What is LiDAR?
In a way it works like a bat’s sonar range finding, but using light
It is an abbreviation for Light Detection and Ranging, and it was developed originally right here in Canada. Hank Venema of Strategic Systems Engineering in Winnipeg says it’s a complex thing, but boiled down it involves flying an airplane over a landscape, shooting a laser at that landscape, and then measuring it when it bounces
Rover shows future of farming
Manitoba manufacturer launches remote-operated platform with University of Winnipeg researchers
R-Tech Industries of Homewood makes farm implements and, because its machines are often used by researchers, many of them come in strange shapes and sizes. They’re small, narrow, miniature versions of the big iron you usually see working the fields in production season. The smallest, strangest and narrowest of them all is the R-Tech Rover, a lightweight basic frame perched on
Cover crop survey reveals risks and benefits
Producers like the potential but say short season, lack of moisture key concerns
Planting a cover crop is a new idea this far north. It has its agronomic advantages, it keeps roots in the soil after the harvest, although it comes with its problems as well, especially in Western Canada. Prairie farmers were historically skeptical about cover cropping. Some say it’s purposely growing “weeds” that will deplete your
Unique pothole landscape allows annual spring groundwater recharge on Prairies
Landscape depressions capture run-off, enable slow infiltration into earth
It’s been a scorcher across the Prairies this year. Even the typically moist Red River Valley registered exceptional drought last summer and western farmers are seriously hoping for snow cover this winter to bring those soil moisture levels up. Masaki Hayashi, a professor with the University of Calgary’s geoscience department, says that’s only half of
Tending to your farm’s factory floor: its soil
The health of your farmland can have a big impact on your bottom line
In any manufacturing business productivity is a matter of managing the building, the machinery and the workforce to put the product together in a cost-effective way. In farming, soil is the factory floor and growing a profitable crop is a matter of managing the biology and chemistry of the field within the limits imposed by
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