Manitoba Agriculture’s John Heard says many farmers are being forced to 
adjust their fertility strategy after a tough fall.


Farmers adjust fertility plans after tough fall

There’s still plenty of opportunity to get nitrogen on if you missed the fall application window

While spring banding of fertilizer has become more popular recently, there’s still plenty of growers putting it down in the fall. That is, unless they run into a season like last year. Many farmers throughout Manitoba struggled to just get the crop off, never mind getting their fall work done. Now they’re left with the

Intercropping wheat and soys makes for tighter rotation

Intercropping wheat and soys makes for tighter rotation

The Kutz family has had to improvise but their ideas are working

At Kutz Farms LLC in Wisconsin, the Kutz family decided that planting corn on corn repeatedly may be good short-term economics, but it was bad long term for their soil’s health. As a result, John Kutz, his father and father-in-law created a new system that gives them three crops in two years, but doesn’t include


 Tom Sewell shared how he went to complete no-till seeding in Britain.

British no-tillers worry about potential loss of glyphosate

But Tom Sewell says he’ll still find a way to continue his no-till system

A pioneer in British no-till farming said there’s a good chance European farmers will lose access to glyphosate. “It’s a French and German thing,” said Tom Sewell at the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario conference recently in London. The politics of those two countries mean that there is pressure to ban the herbicide which is

Flying bee

Neonic replacement not popular with farmers or beekeepers

They’re too expensive, ineffective and still harmful to bees, to cite just some of the concerns expressed

A proposed replacement for a key neonicotinoid pesticide is proving unpopular with everyone — including farmers and beekeepers. Farmers adopted neonic pesticides because they were safer and didn’t damage the environment as older pesticides did. With one of the three used in Canada being phased out, the search for replacements is on. Mark Brock, chairman


Speaker Clayton Robins gives a first-hand account of cover crops as used on his own operation in Rivers, Man., Mar. 1.

Soil management, cover crops and recouping costs explored

Farm-specific cover crop integration was the backbone of the latest Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association grazing club workshop

Clayton Robins knows something about fighting soil salinity. His farm, located near Rivers, Man., sits on top of what he’s described as “starry night” soil, speckled with white pockets of high salt content. It’s an issue he says has largely disappeared since he first added a secondary NS simultaneous crop focused on soil management rather

Saskatchewan seed grower Kevin Elmy says cover crops are the future, but admits it’s not an easy system to learn.

Cover crops offer big potential, pose bigger learning curve

It’s got easier to draw a crowd for a cover crop talk, but those looking 
for a one-size-fits-all solution will be disappointed

Looking over at the emptied room that had been packed with attentive farmers a few minutes earlier, cover crops guru Kevin Elmy could only shake his head. “If I had given a talk here five years ago, maybe the front row might have been filled — maybe,” the Saskatchewan farmer said after his FarmTech presentation,


Cutaway of Plant and Roots in Dirt

Scientists studying how to make poorer soils perform better

The work is in response to a growing problem of the loss of prime farmland to urbanization

As Canada steadily loses top-quality farmland to urban sprawl, Agriculture Canada scientists are studying ways to make poorer soils perform better in co-operation with foreign researchers. Brian Gray, assistant deputy minister for science and technology, told the Senate agriculture committee the work will help feed an expected global population of 9.5 billion in 2050. “We’re

What is 4R Nutrient Stewardship?

What is 4R Nutrient Stewardship?

Manitoba is not like other agriculture areas looking to implement 4R, the room heard during the latest 4R Nutrient Stewardship training workshop in Brandon Feb. 23. The four Rs (right nutrient source applied at the right rate at the right time in the right place) form the backbone of Fertilizer Canada’s campaign to balance environmental


John Heard, crop nutrition specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, reports on phosphorus deficiency in soil and best practices during the recent 4R Nutrient Stewardship training in Brandon.

The phosphorus conundrum: low soil levels meet Lake Winnipeg pressures

Experts weigh in on managing low phosphorus levels in soil, while minimizing water health impact

Manitoba is in a difficult position of simultaneously having too much phosphorus and not enough. Manitoba Agriculture crop nutrition specialist John Heard highlighted this contradiction recently during a recent presentation at a nutrient stewardship workshop, noting phosphorus buildup in the Lake Winnipeg watershed has been a source of long-standing tension between regulators and agriculture. A

Farmers will have to produce more food to feed a growing population, but maybe not as much more as many think.

Food demand predictions could be inaccurate

Lots of people say food demand will double by 2050 — but some researchers say the numbers don’t add up

The widely held view that food production needs to double by 2050 to feed a growing world population may be inaccurate. In a study published in the journal Bioscience, researchers from Penn State’s agriculture college have challenged that view, saying the required increase may be as high as 70 per cent — or as low