January 2025—Variable rate (VR), as a phrase, is thoroughly uninspiring. Boring. People want to hear about VR about as much as they want to hear about the 50-year-old wool suit I bought at Value Village for $22. I see that now. But optimum rate! That inspires. In October, I wrote a LinkedIn post about a breakfast...
Read More November 2024—I plopped down on a chair in the outdoor bar at Bobby O’Brien’s pub on King Street in Kitchener, Ontario. I was feeling a little verklempt after dropping off my younger son at the University of Waterloo. Game one of the National Football League season was on all of the TVs, including a massive screen...
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September 2024—Productive soil is healthy soil. If farmed soil is not productive, it needs help. The soil health equation doesn’t need to be more complicated than that. Cornell University, in its Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health, provides a long list of potential soil health indicators, including 17 physical, 11 biological and 15 chemical. Physical indicators include...
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March 2024—A drill is for seeding. So, do one-pass air drills that apply both seed and all fertilizer do a disservice to canola stand establishment? That question came up during a Canola Council of Canada (CCC) agronomy team discussion on yield-limiting factors and what we can do about them. Summer heat, flea beetles and low plant...
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January 2024—German farmers cannot grow genetically-modified crops. They lost access to neonicotinoid seed treatments, and now nitrogen rates are restricted. European leaders have environmental and political reasons for all three decisions, but they come at a cost. One cost is yield. When agriculture strives for more efficient and sustainable use of arable land, agriculture can meet...
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