Optimizing Stand Establishment In Less-Than-Optimal Conditions

When seeding is delayed, optimizing stand establishment becomes imperative to achieving maximum yield. Remember, planting date is only one of many yield-influencing factors. The following tips can assist in maximizing seedling emergence and establishment. AVOID “MUDDING” IT IN Manage crop residue, drive on firm fields, and leave the drowned-out spots to dry. Early seeding favours

Sowing Soybeans — Air Drill Versus Planter

Seeding soybeans last year with a planter instead of an air drill resulted in slightly higher yields, but with a lot less seed, a study commissioned by the Manitoba Pulse Growers Association found. “Use 15 per cent less seed and get another two-bushel (an acre) yield advantage you’re in pretty compelling territory to say, ‘I


Flax Council Reminds To Test For Triffid

The Flax Council of Canada is encouraging growers to ensure that all planting seed has been tested for the presence of Triffid prior to seeding. “Continued testing at all levels of the value chain is essential to reduce the frequency and severity of Triffid events found in the Canadian flax crop to the point where

Study Says Upping Inputs Could Drive Down Profits

From their perch at the University of Minnesota, graduate students Wade Kent and Landon Reis have seen a clear trend emerge over the past few years. Higher prices have soybean growers throwing everything they could find – higher seeding rates, more fertility inputs, and more crop protection products – at their crops in order to


INRA Halts Research On Developing New GMO Varieties

Europe’s top farm researcher has abandoned work on developing new genetically modified crops (GMOs) due to widespread distrust and even hostility by European consumers. “We have no research on GMO innovation anymore, none,” Marion Guillou, president of the National Institute for Agronomical Research (INRA), told Reuters in an interview. INRA, which has more than 1,800

Soybeans Fighting Canola To Get Markets Back

Soybeans are fighting back. Soybean oil is still the most consumed vegetable oil in North America, but it’s been losing ground to canola, which is regarded as the healthiest vegetable oil because it contains just seven per cent saturated fat. Part of canola’s gains have resulted from the development of high-stability, omega-9 oil. It has


Winter Sowing Conditions Still Difficult In Russia – for Sep. 9, 2010

Rains in some parts of central Russia have made conditions favourable for winter grain sowing, although problems remain in other areas, the director of the Hydrometcentre weather-forecasting service said Aug. 31. Roman Vilfand also told reporters that mid-September would be the final deadline for sowing winter grains in Russia after the worst drought in more

Crop Dollars Washed Away

What’s the price tag to the crops sector from this record rainfall spring? Great question, but it’s very difficult to answer. Flooding damage to homes, businesses and roads will gradually be assessed with a high degree of accuracy. Replacement values can be estimated. You can’t simply rebuild a crop that’s been lost. Now that the


Take A Canola Plant Stand Count

Knowing your plant stand is the best way to understand how your fields should be managed for the rest of the season. It will also help in managing your seeding rate for the future. “Plant counts can determine whether your seeding system and seeding rate have given the crop the best start,” says Canola Council

New Soybean Could Cut Into High-Stability Canola Oil Markets

“The story of canola is it has always been able to keep one step ahead of soybeans.” – David Dzisiak High-oleic canola oil, most of it from Canada, has dominated the growing North American demand for healthier, non-trans fat, deep-frying oils, but American soybeans are fighting back. Last month the United States Department of Agriculture