Dr. Yvonne Lawley of the University of Manitoba presents initial data in front of her newest line of plots evaluating the impact of tillage on soybeans.

To till or not to till? For soybeans that’s the question

The Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization is testing out planting dates and 
pre-seed tillage systems in its latest round of soybean experiments

Conventional wisdom says to break out the harrow before planting soybeans, the better to expose black earth and warm the soil, but new research is putting that assumption to the test. Dr. Yvonne Lawley of the Unive­rsity of Manitoba is measuring the effect of seeding date and different tillage systems on soybeans through several regions


Editorial: New opportunities

Editorial: New opportunities

Agriculture is often viewed, especially by outsiders, as a staid and conservative place where things are done by tradition. To be fair, it’s often true. After all, you’re practising a craft that’s 12,000 years old and the foundation of human civilization. Without farming we’d all be hunting and gathering our next meal with no time

Photo: Scott Garvey

Seven new product reveals from John Deere

In early June John Deere invited members of the farm media to its Harvester Works facility in Moline, Illinois, to see the full line of equipment it was introducing in 2017. And all of it was parked on the lawn in front of that combine manufacturing facility for reporters to photograph and learn about from


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

Dearth of moisture in Manitoba earth

Dearth of moisture in Manitoba earth

Our History: May 1993

This photo from our May 6, 1993 issue showed (l-r) Peter Entz of Manitoba Agriculture, Bill Poole of Ducks Unlimited, Bob McNabb of Minnedosa, Wayne Lewis of Rapid City, Garth Butcher of Birtle and Bob Bradley of PFRA checking soil moisture for the first year of the Manitoba Zero Tillage Research Association’s 640-acre research farm


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

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


Stubble on a harvested oat field near Winnipeg. (Shannon VanRaes photo)

Carbon price worries farmers, fertilizer makers

Winnipeg/Toronto | Reuters — Canada’s plan to price carbon emissions may weaken the farm sector in one of the biggest grain-shipping countries, raising farmers’ costs and discouraging investment in fertilizer production, industry groups say. Ottawa this month promised a price on carbon emissions by 2018, and will let provinces choose a tax or cap-and-trade system.

Manitoba Agriculture soil fertility specialist John Heard, soil sampling the old-fashioned way, says sampling cereals fields right after combining provides some advantages.

Soil test right after the combine

The tradition has been to sample for soil nutrients later in the fall, but there are compelling reasons to go sooner than later

It’s been the accepted wisdom to soil test as late as possible in the fall, but one soil test lab says it might pay to go earlier. Agvise Laboratories, that has soil-testing labs in North Dakota and Minnesota and a large stable of Canadian customers, told growers in a recent email it may be a