Agronomist Notes
From Three Hills to Calgary, Fairview, Grand Prairie, Saskatoon and back, I’ve braved the elements to talk to producers about controlled traffic farming. There’s a ...
Agronomist Notes
Last week I ventured out for a few client visits to discuss agronomy strategies and research opportunities for 2011. Conversation was around liquid injection systems for air dr...
Agronomist Notes
It’s now Monday night, a day after our two week CTF tour and I’ve finally got time to finish the newsletter. Jet lag hit me like a Mac truck and I’m slowly ge...
Agronomist Notes
G’day mates,
We landed in Brisbane on Monday morning to a warm welcome from our host Tim Neale. The flight was long but good and the eleven of us managed to avoid bei...
Agronomist Notes
I’ve been busy preparing for the upcoming Advanced Agronomy conference and getting ready to leave for my Australian CTF tour next Saturday. My Kiwi guest Chris Dennison a...
Agronomist Notes
Annnnnnnnd done! The last of my clients wrapped up harvest on the weekend to put an end to a very long season. Now on to fixing, hauling, checking bins, shifting grain, updatin...
Agronomist Notes
I’ve spent some time putting fertility and crop plans together for clients this week. I don’t know what nitrogen levels are like yet but I’m confident they wi...
Agronomist Notes
Today there’s a skiff of snow on the ground so it’s a good thing most producers are very close to the finish line. I would peg harvest completion at 90% with the we...
Agronomist Notes
This year’s harvest is lot like the Energizer bunny, it keeps going and going and going! Three weeks after gearing up, we’re done as of tonight. We’ve had ver...
Agronomist Notes
Finally, harvest has started to pick up again after several weeks of wet weather and thankfully the forecast looks promising for the next seven days. The first of the spring wh...
Agronomist Notes
Another week has passed and zero harvest progress has occurred with showers, cold weather and a heavy frost occurring last week. At the farm we had two nights of -3.3C which is...
Agronomist Notes
In the last week, many producers knocked down canola in the east while producers in the west are waiting on maturity. Very little harvest progress has been made with cool, wet ...
Agronomist Notes
We’re now up to five light frosts at the farm with cool, wet weather in the forecast. Say goodbye to another potential week of harvest! I know of one barley crop that has...
Agronomist Notes
I’ve been busy helping clients with pre-harvest and canola swathing timing over the last ten days. Pre-harvest glyphosate in wheat is in full swing but we’re still ...
Agronomist Notes
The weather remains cool with September just around the corner. All crops are having a hard time maturing and little progress has been made week over week. I manage some 110-da...
Agronomist Notes
Crops are finally starting to show signs of maturing as we move to mid-August. I’ve been busy timing some pre-harvest fields that were seeded mid-April and sweeping for i...
Agronomist Notes
We’re approaching the end of the growing season with the start of winter wheat and barley harvest about two weeks away. That’s the good news. The other news is that...
Agronomist Notes
We hosted a controlled traffic field day at the farm last Thursday and had a good turnout in spite of the hot, humid conditions. Forty-five people from Barrhead to Medicine Hat...
Agronomist Notes
Last week was full of rain, sun, road trips to Taber to look at seed drills and a check ups on insect pressures. Wheat midges are out in full force but thankfully most of the w...
Agronomist Notes
How’s your summer coming along? Last week I picked a day that wasn’t wet to take a good look at some side by side drill trials where I noticed differences in the Co...
Agronomist Notes
We had a mini-heat wave last week which was welcome for some of the later seeded crops to help push maturity along. At this point, the season is looking very similar to 2008. T...
Agronomist Notes
Another ½ inch to 1 inch of rain fell last week followed by three sunny days in a row! Farmers have been spraying at a frantic pace to catch up. With the high humidity a...
Agronomist Notes
We received another 1 to 1.7 inches of rain across the territory last week bringing the total to 10 inches in some areas since April 1st. At the farm we’re up to 8 inches...
Agronomist Notes
So far I’ve scouted 19,000 acres for weeds, insects and diseases. Overall I’m very pleased with crop emergence, maturity and how clean our fields are. A couple of i...
Agronomist Notes
Snow anyone? How about 6 inches plus an inch or two of rain? To date, we’ve had at least five inches of rain at the farm and some areas recording up to eight. Yield...
Agronomist Notes
We’ve had a great run of weather over the past seven days and most producers just about have seeding wrapped up. Mitch and I finished Tuesday and we’ll immediately ...
Agronomist Notes
The last seven days have been rain free, allowing producers to the east to really get the acres covered. Some just started last Saturday and still find it too wet! Alternativel...
Agronomist Notes
Another snow event, cool temperatures and rainfall slowed down seeding progress in many areas last week. It seems like the south and eastern portion of the province is well beh...
Agronomist Notes
What’s your seeding status? I have some clients that are 25-30% finished seeding and some haven’t turned a wheel yet. (I’m in that category.) We had two inche...
Agronomist Notes
Modern seeding equipment and technology is really awesome, especially when you buy it in the winter. Then spring comes along and seeding begins, hair turns grey, some falls out...
Agronomist Notes
Seeding has kicked off for most of my clients and I suspect all will be in full swing by the end of the week. The eastern side of my territory received up to ten inches of snow...
Agronomist Notes
I soil sampled for a client near Okotoks on Saturday and the soil is the driest I’ve seen it in eight years. I would estimate that soils in my territory have only 1 inch ...
Agronomist Notes
Oh my, it’s spring. Ground conditions remain warmer and drier than normal with average soil temperatures of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius. The long term forecast is for temperat...
Agronomist Notes
Another warm week has brought on the springtime itch to get out in the fields. Some producers have started applying Edge, some have cultivated (shame-shame) and I know of one o...
Agronomist Notes
I’ve been busy with herbicide updates from sales reps and I hear the word on the street is glyphosate prices may rise as the supply in the market continues to drop. Howev...
Agronomist Notes
Spring is here! (A bold statement, I know. At least it’s here this week.) The mild temperatures have done away with the snow and even the winter wheat is starting to show...
Agronomist Notes
In between bouts of typing fury on my Nuffield report, I’ve spent the past week putting herbicide and fertility programs together as well as some business budgeting for 2...
Agronomist Notes
Special thanks to those of you who took the time answer our short survey. I greatly appreciate all manner of comments; I consider our readers to be well informed and hold valua...
Agronomist Notes
Once again my conversations this week covered the spectrum. I met with AccuFarm to discuss GPS options at the farm. Jim Halford, Conserva-Pak drill inventor, stopped by for a c...
Agronomist Notes
I’ve spent the last week conversing with clients and industry reps about everything from fertility recommendations to seeding rates, liquid fertilizer products and growin...
Agronomist Notes
Expose yourself and you’ll hear all about. My FarmTech presentation and Western Producer article (which was news to me) has raised some eyebrows and I’ve been field...
Agronomist Notes
After a whirl wind week at FarmTech and touring two Aussie’s around for the weekend, it’s good to get my feet back on the ground.
The controlled traffic topic g...
Agronomist Notes
It was crunch time this week as I crafted my keynote presentation for FarmTech on Wednesday. I’m really looking forward to presenting some agronomy topics that are a litt...
Agronomist Notes
The past week has been full of writing, writing and more writing. I’m in the middle of preparing my FarmTech presentations and I’m excited to bend the minds of the ...
Agronomist Notes
Things are pretty quite on the home front (the ag home front, that is), though I have heard a few fertilizer quotes lately. It looks like a stored price today is coming in at $...
