soil health Archives - Page 10 of 13

The humble soil test is your best bet this fall for better nutrient management after a drought.

Soil testing even more crucial after drought year

A poor crop year means nutrients may be left in the soil. An accurate reading of what’s there can help farmers reduce costs and manage nutrients better

By Geralyn Wichers September 23, 2021

After a drought year, soil testing is more crucial than ever — and farmers may like the results they get. “In the driest areas with the poorest yields, we’re hearing of very high levels of nitrogen remaining,” said John Heard, soil fertility specialist with Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development. “I have never been so curious

The title of a new book by a Manitoba author cuts to the chase: the only way out for us when it comes to climate change is to embrace a carbon-negative future.

Editorial, Op/Ed

Editorial: An impossible dream? So was putting a man on the moon

By Laura Rance-Unger July 22, 2021

If there is one book you should read during this summer of relentless sun and sweltering heat, pick up a copy of A Road to Fossil Fuel Free Farming by Manitoba farmer and researcher David Rourke. Despite the heavy subject matter, it has all the elements of a compelling read — a character worth knowing,

News

Corteva showcases offset program to farmers

U.S. farmers grill company on its pilot program. Plus — when will it come to Canada?

By Geralyn Wichers July 20, 2021

It doesn’t take a genius to see the math doesn’t add up, Corteva Agriscience rep Ben Gordon acknowledged during a webinar promoting its carbon offset program. Farmers have to do it for the soil health and long-term gain if they’re going to join, he said. It was U.S. farmers and ag-interested folk only on Corteva’s

Crops

AGI to buy into soil microbe breeding firm

Machinery maker to take minority stake in MyLand

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News June 15, 2021

A U.S. company ramping up a system to harvest, reproduce and restore beneficial microbes from a field’s own soils, as a way to restore peak fertility, expects to get backing soon from a Canadian farm equipment maker. Winnipeg-based Ag Growth International (AGI) said Monday it has signed a conditional letter of intent with Phoenix-based MyLand

A certified crop adviser says Canadian farmers are losing close to $3 billion a year due to lost productivity caused by degraded, unhealthy soil.

Crops, News, Other

Tending to your farm’s factory floor: its soil

The health of your farmland can have a big impact on your bottom line

By Gord Leathers May 18, 2021

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

Many people with livestock are searching for grazing land and a growing number of farmers are thinking about integrating livestock into their farms.

News

MOA soil health project to match livestock producers, landowners

Livestock integration, reduced tillage, perennials and cover crops to get a boost on organic farms with Conservation Trust funding

By Geralyn Wichers May 13, 2021

A website that will pair landowners with livestock producers in search of grazing land, and a cost-shared consultant agronomy program are two projects the Manitoba Organic Alliance (MOA) is taking on in a project called “Improving soil stewardship on Manitoba organic farms” funded by the Conservation Trust. “Organic farms are really well positioned to be

File photo of Ontario cropland from the air. (IMNATURE/iStock/Getty Images)

Crops, Weather

Federal NDP introduces soil health bill

Proposal calls for a National Soil Health Advocate

By D.C. Fraser, GFM Network News May 1, 2021

The federal New Democrats propose to set up a plan they say could help build up Canadian agriculture from the ground down. The NDP’s agriculture critic, British Columbia MP Alistair MacGregor, on Monday introduced a private member’s bill in the Commons to create a national soil health strategy for Canada. The strategy as proposed in

Take a systematic approach to improving the ecosystems beneath your feet.

Crops, Farmit Manitoba

There’s a teeming world of diversity and complexity in your field’s soil

This soil ecologist says six principles can be applied to improve soil health

By Gord Leathers March 16, 2021

Soil is more than just dirt, a place where plants put down roots to grow seeds. It’s a complex ecology, teeming with infinite varieties of flora, fauna, microbes and minerals that provide both the raw materials and machinery to build crops and livestock. It’s a factory floor with a lot of moving parts and we’re

... the health of one soil can be very different from the health of another and both are healthy.” – David Lobb, University of Manitoba.

Crops, Farmit Manitoba

Soil health a moving target

There’s no one-size-fits-all measure of soil health, David Lobb says

By Gord Leathers March 16, 2021

Saying a soil is ‘healthy’ isn’t something simple like running through a checklist. David Lobb, a soil scientist at the University of Manitoba says it’s a moving target that takes many variables into account. There are hundreds of different soils across the province, thousands across the country and the development of each one moves toward

“Soils, wherever you are on the planet, were never formed with monocultures.” – Blake Vince.

Crops

This farmer sees cover crop benefits

It’s not just about the environment; it’s also about the bottom line

By Don Norman January 19, 2021

Farmer Blake Vince says he’s seen both benefits and challenges as he’s made cover crops part of his operation near London, Ont. At November’s Farm Forum Event virtual conference, he appeared by way of a pre-recorded presentation done weeks earlier at his no-till farm. Standing in the middle of a cover crop that was planted

Daily Network News

Ag in Motion wins business tourism award

U.S. livestock: ‘Relentless’ fund selling knocks down CME cattle futures

U.S. grains: Soy futures slide as traders worry China may miss US buying target

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