Soil Archives - Page 4 of 46 - Manitoba Co-operator

“If we give the farmer the tool of the soil health report, along with an understanding of what they need to do to improve soil health, they’re going to improve crop yields and profitability and reduce the risk in a dry year or a wet year.” – Wayne Black, A & L Laboratories

Confusion remains about soil health

Producers get mixed messages on what they should do to improve their ground

By Ralph Pearce July 11, 2023

Soil health is a catchphrase that has dominated the agri-food landscape for at least five years, but what does it mean? The term has been adopted and re-imagined by countless individuals, organizations and groups to support everything from organics to cover crops, reduced till or no till, carbon sequestration, sustainability and regenerative agriculture. Adding to

Wireworms have historically been a challenge when it comes to chemical control.

Crops

Wireworm survival behaviour unearthed

Wireworms travelled deep into the soil for winter, research out of Atlantic Canada found

By Geralyn Wichers July 7, 2023

Wireworms can dig deep into the soil to avoid frost and survive cold temperatures, according to research out of Prince Edward Island. Christine Noronha, an entomologist with Agriculture Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in Charlottetown, recently studied how deep, and at what times, wireworms were on the move in the soil. There are no in-season chemical options

John Heard at the Crop Diagnostic School in 2022.

Faces of ag, Farmit Manitoba

Happy trails: Award-winning soil scientist retires

Faces of Ag: After 27 years with Manitoba Agriculture, the respected soil fertility specialist has retired

By Don Norman May 19, 2023

At the retirement party for her colleague, John Heard, Manitoba Agriculture soil management specialist Marla Riekman has a recurring memory. “One of the phrases that I often fear hearing is, ‘Hey, Marla,’” she said jokingly. “John is a man of great ideas, especially when it comes to extension work, something he’s so passionate about. He

Yvonne Lawley of the University of Manitoba is leading a three-year study into the use of cover crops.

Crops, News

Soil health main focus of cover-croppers

Largest look into practice across Prairies at the farm level shows early adopters satisfied with results

By Gord Leathers May 9, 2023

Early adopters of various farm practices often provide valuable information. It was farmers like these that, through trial and error, perfected the zero-till system and direct seeding, for example. But they’re all working in isolation, and maybe swapping a few ideas over the internet or at the occasional conference. The University of Manitoba’s Yvonne Lawley

The difference between a dry year and one with timely moisture is dramatic in the brown soil zone. Joseph McKee’s 2020 crop (shown in late July) yielded 65 bushels an acre while the dry conditions last year (photo taken in early July) produced a 20-bushel-an-acre crop on his Lethbridge-area farm.

Crops, Oilseeds

Palliser Triangle: It’s hot and dry — and the next frontier for canola

With crush capacity soaring, canola council looks to the brown soil zone and new heat-tolerant varieties

By Jeff Melchior April 19, 2023

Glacier FarmMedia – The canola industry has its eyes on the Prairies’ most inhospitable regions and knows potential growers will need support. The Canola Council of Canada is setting up research it hopes will drive sustainable canola growth in the brown soil zones of the Palliser Triangle, one of the hottest, driest regions of the Prairies. With canola

Struvite-based fertilizer can replace some phosphorus fertilizer.

Crops

Closing the phosphorus loop

Municipal wastewater can be a source of valuable nutrients, says soil scientist

By Gord Leathers March 28, 2023

There are two places to mine phosphorus. One is the rock phosphate mines that supply the world with raw materials for phosphorus fertilizer. The other is in agricultural soils where cropping depletes the nutrient, and once it’s gone, it’s gone. “We have a phosphorus problem in agriculture and in society because we rely heavily on

A tray of black soldier fly larvae photographed in Malaysia in 2022 at Nutrition Technologies’ plant.

Farmit Manitoba

From ashes to fly larvae, new ideas aim to revive farm soil

New research aims to take the fight to stave off soil degradation in a promising new direction

By Rod Nickel February 15, 2023

Reuters – As extreme weather and human activity degrade the world’s arable land, scientists and developers are looking at new and largely unproven methods to save soil for agriculture. One company is injecting liquid clay into California desert to trap moisture and help fruit to grow, while another in Malaysia boosts soil with droppings from

There seems to be some correlation between certain zero-till practices and soil acidification.

Crops, News

Soil acidity a growing issue

Over time a natural chemical reaction to nitrogen can cause an acidic band to develop

By Gord Leathers February 1, 2023

Most of Manitoba’s soils are considered to be neutral, with pH around 7.0 and being neither acid nor alkaline. If anything there’s a tendency towards the alkaline. That’s why North Dakota State University cropping systems specialist Ryan Buetow’s warning at the recent Manitoba Agronomists’ Conference was unexpected. He says there are pockets of acidity showing

How much diversity in a cover crop is too much?

News

The making of a cover crop mix

How ‘multi-species’ should a multi-species mix get?

By Alexis Stockford January 26, 2023

Michael Thiele wants farmers to design their cover crops for whatever they don’t have in their system. The soil health presenter said during an early January workshop in Minnedosa that for some farmers, that might be soil carbon. For others, it might be nitrogen or soil structure or other soil health traits. On the business

Comment, Op/Ed

Comment: How roots are shaped for success

The amazing development of root shape and why it could help protect crops from climate change

By Malcolm Bennett, Poonam Mehra January 24, 2023

Plants may live rooted in one place, but the more scientists learn about plants, the more complex and responsive we realize they are. Plants are specialists, making the most of what is near where they germinate. Learning about the intricacies of plant life is about more than inspiring wonder in people, though. Studying plants is

Daily Network News

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures slide under pressure from weak cash prices

ICE Canada Weekly: Canola likely to remain rangebound

U.S. grains: Soybean futures ease from 17-month peak as traders gauge China buying pace

Tag Archives Soil