Newsletter Archive

Agronomist Notes I just finished talking to the local fertilizer dealer and choked after I asked him for current prices. Prices are now $555 a tonne for urea, $594 a tonne for phosphate, $357 f...

Agronomist Notes Have you ever been awarded something so “big” it seemed surreal? How would you like an all expenses paid trip around the world visiting farms, industries, and netwo...

Agronomist Notes I heard a great statement last week that fits perfectly into our maximum yield journey. The producer told me he wanted a system that would allow him to seed 60 acres an hour wi...

Hello, This week Red Deer hosts Agri-Trade and I’ll be there Wednesday through Friday so I hope to see you there. I’ll be busy networking and marketing my newsletter. This week I&rs...

Agronomist Notes The past week was full of more soil sampling, fertility analysis, and a carbon credit trading workshop. From the soil test results so far, I can see a trend in lower nitrogen l...

Agronomist Notes It’s been a hurry up and wait kind of fall, with whole days devoted to harvest few and far between. (Come to think of it, these observations are familiar as I recall typi...

Aussies Fine-Tune Precision Approach. Using online software, researchers from Australia's Centre for Precision Agriculture have developed a simplified protocol to teach growers how to convert c...

Agronomist Notes Your combine seat may still be warm but I must ask, have you decided which canola variety to seed next year?  If you were thinking of InVigor varieties, take a look at the...

Agronomist Notes Another challenging harvest is at hand. The majority of producers are sitting at 60% complete and grades range from No. 1’s to feed. I’ve been told that due to the ...

Agronomist Notes Last week saw the beginning of spring wheat harvest, which is about 3% complete. I’ve heard yields coming off anywhere from 55 to 75 bushels so far. Proteins have been ar...

Agronomist Notes About 90% of the canola acres are now swathed and many producers are contemplating swathing or desiccating their cereals due to immature plants in the wheel tracks. Most winter...

Agronomist Notes Last week brought cooler temperatures helping late seeded crops fill out and keep the insects at bay. Even if Lygus bugs jumped above threshold right now, the canola seeds have...

Agronomist Notes A break in the weather has finally given us insect chasers a few days rest. The beginning of the week was filled with good news as I discovered a significant drop in diamondbac...

Agronomist Notes Last week gave way to a rapid increase in diamondback moth populations in the eastern portion of my territory, east of Hwy 21 and out to Drumheller. The populations and levels ...

Agronomist Notes You may remember that I mentioned Lygus bugs should not build up to significant levels in my territory. Well, they did. In just one week. A client near Calgary reached 3 per sw...

Agronomist Notes Last week’s heat wave was helpful for the late crops but not so much for the flowering wheat and canola. Even with ample moisture in the ground, the plants cannot take up...

Agronomist Notes Fungicide applications on wheat, barley, and canola were completed last Saturday. The fields we sprayed showed excellent yield potential but had signs of disease on the upper l...

Agronomist Notes The last week was packed with in-crop weed scouting, post-herbicide scouting, disease checks and insect monitoring. The air is extremely humid and ripe for disease development,...

Agronomist Notes Last week saw very little rain (finally!) and we were able to get a lot of spraying done towards the end of the week. We are now on the tail end of herbicide applications in wh...

Agronomist Notes Another 2 to 3.5 inches of rain fell over our area last week, and in spite of the moisture, we managed to get a lot of spraying done in a short time. The major issues to be awa...

Agronomist Notes Last week provided another random weather event that brought seeding progress to a halt once again. The reports around the country were anywhere from ½ to 4 inches. Many...

Agronomist Notes The last 30% of seeding is slow to come, as most of the fields that were left until now are still too wet. Regardless, producers continue to “plug” away and get stuck oft...

Agronomist Notes There was little seeding progress made in our area as producers waited for fields to dry up, only to have another two inches of moisture come in the form of snow and rain. Many produ...

Agronomist Notes Seeding progress was rapid this week as conditions were favorable. The majority of my clients are 50%- 80% completed and one client is 100% finished. I have been busy seeding m...

Agronomist Notes Many producers were able to start seeding last Tuesday and make significant progress, despite getting stuck in the mud several times a day! The area around Drumheller was at a stands...

Agronomist Notes Well, 2.8 inches of rain fell last week, putting a lengthy pause in seeding activities. The snow that fell two weeks ago delivered 1.8 inches of moisture bringing us to 4.6 inc...

Agronomist Notes I spent most of last week inspecting fields for weeds, temperature and moisture. The ground temperature averaged 7oC (45oF) at 3 inches last week, which is a perfect start for germin...

Agronomist Notes My rain gauge read slightly less than 2 inches of combined rain and snow on Sunday. I’ll take the moisture but I’d also like to get on with spring! I was reviewing ...

Agronomist Notes I did some shallow soil sampling on the weekend and discovered the frost lays about eight inches below the surface. The soil temperature hovered around three degrees Celsius at three...

Agronomist Notes We are coming into pre-burn season and it has me thinking about glyphosate efficacy and the problems surrounding product application. To start, what we do know is that glyphosate wor...

Agronomist Notes I’ve spent a number of days reviewing seeding and fertility plans with clients. I am very thankful we had our fertilizer positioned last fall because the price is now roughl...

Agronomist Notes The most common question these days is whether we should seed more barley and less spring wheat. The lack of wheat movement this winter has a number of producers questioning why they...

Agronomist Notes I’ve had a number of discussions over the years with producers wondering if they should switch from conventional to a no-till, direct seeding system. The questions I usually f...

Agronomist Notes I've long been a proponent of determining seeding rates by targeting specific plant stand densities and calculating thousand kernel weights. In a world of tight margins, we simply ca...

Agronomist Notes Over the years, I’ve heard of recommendations for the addition of calcium to crops like canola. The beat to this drum has faded to the background. I’ve also heard c...

Agronomist Notes In the last couple of weeks I’ve received a number of questions surrounding no-till seeding systems, specifically residue management and ground openers. One of the biggest co...

Agronomist Notes This week's edition will focus on transportation, grain markets and costs of production in Brazil. I have been asked by two commodity investment groups to discuss my findings in Braz...