Disc tillage not the only answer to corn residue

Disc tillage not the only answer to corn residue

Recent research on the effect of corn on subsequent soybean crops suggests there may be other alternatives

Producers may want to look beyond disc tillage to deal with corn residue, according to research co-funded by the Manitoba Corn Growers Association. In a two-year comparison of four residue treatments and their effect on soybeans, Patrick Walther and Yvonne Lawley of the University of Manitoba found that low-tillage treatments yielded the same soybean crop

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


soil

Healthy soil is the real key to feeding the world

It’s sustainability, not one production system or the other, that is the real solution

One of the biggest modern myths about agriculture is that organic farming is inherently sustainable. It can be, but it isn’t necessarily. After all, soil erosion from chemical-free tilled fields undermined the Roman Empire and other ancient societies around the world. Other agricultural myths hinder recognizing the potential to restore degraded soils to feed the

 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


Corn rows in a strip-till versus no-till study in Urbana, Illinois, which showed the strip-till areas had higher yields.

Is strip tillage the new black for Manitoba farmers?

The answer is ‘maybe’ — and probably ‘yes’ for sandy soils, but no research has yet been done in clay soils, according to University of Manitoba graduate student, Patrick Walther whose master’s thesis focused on soybean response to different tillage treatments. Walther compared four tillage treatments in soybean crops — standard double disc, vertical till

A multi-species cover crop can mimic how soil was initially created, with a collection of root exudates from each individual species.

Cover cropping improves land and bank balance

Ontario farmer Blake Vince has harnessed the power of cover crops on his operation

Despite not having cattle on his operation, Blake Vince says he is still a livestock farmer. “Where my livestock are is below my feet and sadly we forget that. The soil is alive, it is a collection of living organisms,” Vince, a Canadian Nuffield Scholar and fifth-generation Ontario farmer, said during a presentation at the


Jane Wanjiko standing in her maize field.

African smallholders are adopting conservation agriculture techniques

When you’re subsisting on three-quarters of an acre, increasing 
maize production from 32 kg a year to 990 kg is a life-changing event

This summer Stefan Epp-Koop travelled to Kenya as part of a Canadian Foodgrains Bank learning tour, focused on the importance of agriculture in achieving numerous development goals: reducing hunger, increasing incomes, empowering women, adapting to a changing climate, and improving nutrition. Throughout the trip he visited farmers, government officials and researchers, exploring solutions that were

Gordon McPhee, Dauphin
.  1935 –

Agricultural Hall of Fame: Gordon McPhee

Four Manitobans were inducted into the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Portage la Prairie July 14. Over the next few weeks, we’re featuring each one with their citations

For most of his career, Gordon McPhee has played a major role in preserving one of our most precious resources, the soil and working with the agricultural industry towards sustainable development. Together with his wife Mary, Gordon has always been able to look at what was happening on farms and then be quick to acknowledge


Patrick Walther speaks to a group of farmers during the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers annual SMART day in Carman.

There’s an economic case for strip till

The technique can save time and organic matter when it comes to soybean production

While strip till has long been shown to have ecological benefits, a recent field day at the Ian N. Morrison Research Farm suggests there are also economic ones for producers to consider. “We have basically made a case study where we compare one pass, versus two passes,” said Patrick Walther, speaking to a group of

Cutaway of Plant and Roots in Dirt

Healthy soils mean a sustainable future

Causes, consequences of and solutions to soil erosion are always connected

Healthy societies and healthy economies are the product of healthy soil. Healthy soil produces abundant inexpensive food in a sustainable and reliable way. This requires soil care on the part of land managers and courage on the part of policy-makers who oversee soil protection. Scientists who understand soil formation tell us the only sustainable way