(Alexey Rezvykh/iStock/Getty Images)

‘Perfect storm’ causes fertilizer price spikes

'Most of us are in a "wait-and-see" position'

MarketsFarm — Fertilizer prices have increased over the past year, but could be headed even higher as a recent confluence of events has caused a shortage — the effects of which may affect producers past the New Year. “Particularly, in the last few weeks, there have been a number of supply events which have really

Thanks to Jim Lundgren, who farms at Glenora, Man., about 85 km west of Morden, for this photo of his early start to spring tillage on March 20, 2021, owing to the recent absence of snow and/or rain in the area. Not that it’s a race, but is spring fieldwork already underway where you are? If yes, feel free to snap a photo and email us at daveb@fbcpublishing.com. (Photo courtesy Jim Lundgren)

Manitoba soil temperatures allow for spring fertilizer

Winter ban lifted, with cautions

Farmers across Manitoba are now cleared to apply spring fertilizers including livestock manure on their fields, thanks to sufficiently warm soil temperatures, the province said Tuesday. Though the winter nutrient ban has been lifted, the province cautioned producers to “assess current weather conditions and periodically check weather forecasts” if they’re applying anytime between now and








Lanny Gardiner goes through corn nitrogen uptake and staging during Crops-A-Palooza in Carberry July 24.

Busting nitrogen loss with late in-crop application

If you’re about N loss, you may consider a late boost

Corn growers may want to wait on nitrogen application, particularly in a wet year. A nitrogen application at the end of June or early July will help limit nitrogen loss and better time it to when the plant is actually looking for the nutrient, speakers said during a recent field day at the Canada-Manitoba Crop



Manitoba postal code map.

Soil N trend surprising

A dry summer could have left a nice bonus for you in your fields

AGVISE Laboratories says the trend this fall is towards higher levels of residual nitrogen in Manitoba soils. The Northwood, North Dakota company says an early harvest has allowed producers to get a jump on fall soil testing, and its accumulated data from more than 3,000 wheat fields already. That’s been surprising to many producers who

Sierra mix corn variety found in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Corn that finds its own nitrogen

Researchers have known about it since the 1980s but were only recently able to analyze it

Is it possible to grow cereal crops without having to rely on energy requiring commercial fertilizers? In a new study publishing August 7 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, researchers describe a newly identified corn variety which acquires nitrogen by feeding its sugars to beneficial bacteria, which can in turn take up nitrogen from the