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Tag Archives Soil

Soil biology is garnering more attention as crop input costs rise.
News

Farmers test microbes to nourish crops as climate pressure grows, costs rise

Soil biologicals are getting a lot of attention — and research money — in the past couple of years

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Reuters – Tech companies are raising hundreds of millions of dollars, including backing from agriculture heavyweights like Bayer AG, in developing farm products that use living things like microbes and seaweed to nourish crops and lessen the need for synthetic fertilizer. Microbes, including fungi and viruses, have been available for decades as treatments to protect
Poonam Singh is a faculty researcher at Assiniboine Community College.
News

Researcher digging up sustainable growing medium for bedding plants

Peat is extracted from sensitive ecosystems that sequester a lot of carbon, so replacing it could have a big impact

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A Manitoba researcher is studying how to use local waste materials to make flower beds more environmentally friendly. How? By replacing peat — the fluffy, brown “dirt” in which petunias and marigolds are planted at the greenhouse. “It’s extracted from sensitive ecosystems that sequester considerable amounts of carbon and store excess precipitation,” said researcher Poonam Singh in
The concept of soil as a living organism is an idea we’re only just beginning to understand, says Maria DeRosa, a professor at Carleton University.
News

When the plant speaks, nutrients listen

A Canadian researcher may have found a radically new way to fertilize crops

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Glacier FarmMedia – It sounds like science fiction, but some day there may be a fertilizer that only activates once the plant tells it to.  That’s an oversimplification, but it’s the premise behind a researcher’s prototype for a “smart” fertilizer which uses a unique chemical to “listen” to calls for nutrients from the plant roots.
Worm poop is a prized soil amendment, and Annelida sells it and blends it with other organic compounds. The worms’ diet includes food waste and other products, including cardboard.
Farmit Manitoba

Canadian company worming its way into plant food and ag markets

The worms turn waste into an increasingly sought-after soil supplement

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Glacier FarmMedia – It all started with a few worms and an idea, and has now grown to four facilities and 70 million red wigglers. And that’s what makes Canada’s largest worm farm different — it scaled way, way up. “One of the biggest challenges with worm farms is scalability,” said Michael Launer, CEO of
“I smell complete bullshit — it’s a terrible idea.” – Gunter Jochum.
Farmit Manitoba, News

Dollars in the dirt

Big Ag pays farmers for control of their soil-bound carbon

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Reuters – The biggest global agriculture companies are competing on a new front: enticing farmers to join programs that keep atmosphere-warming carbon dioxide in the soil. Fertilizer producers Nutrien and Yara, agribusiness giant Cargill, and seed and chemical companies Corteva and Bayer are paying growers for every acre of land dedicated to trapping carbon underground,
vertical tillage equipment in a farm field
News

The complicated question of tillage

Despite an urgent need to conserve every drop of water, soil experts say a surprising number of producers are still tilling fields this fall

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There’s time to till this fall, but that doesn’t mean you necessarily should. That’s the message from Manitoba’s soil specialists, as harvest wraps up on a tremendously dry year — one they worry will end even drier if some of that precious water is lost through weed uptake or extra movement of soil. Why it
Editorial, Op/Ed

Editor’s Take: Simple solutions

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The agriculture industry is — rightly — proud of its track record of adoption of cutting-edge technology and techniques. From GPS positioning and auto steer to data collection and prescription soil mapping, information is the lifeblood of the farm of today and tomorrow. Which is why it’s so perplexing that relatively few farmers avail themselves
The humble soil test is your best bet this fall for better nutrient management after a drought.
Crops, News

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

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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
A 3-D illustration of Bacillus anthracis bacteria. (Dr_Microbe/iStock/Getty Images)
Livestock, Weather

Anthrax kills southeastern Saskatchewan sheep

Spores forced up by changes in soil moisture

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Dramatic shifts in soil moisture are again bringing anthrax spores to the surface on the Prairies, this time in a southeastern Saskatchewan sheep pasture. Lab results on Wednesday confirmed anthrax as the cause of death of one animal in a flock of sheep in the R.M. of South Qu’Appelle, about 50 km east of Regina,

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