ONTARIO FARMER - PRODUCTION BLOG

There are some interesting tidbits that have come out of recent conversations and interviews with crop advisors and agronomists. I’m finding them intriguing enough to warrant a more detailed look in future articles.
There was one suggestion that alfalfa yields in Ontario have been stagnant for a long time and there hasn’t been much of an outcry from producers. It seems hay yields back in the 70sweren’t a whole lot different than they are today. In fact, with recent winterkill and heaving issues they’ve actually gone down. So, who’s at fault? The breeders? The equipment makers who aren’t doing much about the compaction issue? Or the farmer himself for leaving stands in production well beyond their prime yield years? We’ll be putting that question to some of those in the industry over the next couple of weeks and it should make an interesting article in a future issue of Ontario Farmer.
Then there’s the ongoing debate about the future of no-till. It seems a couple of cool, backward springs resulting in a yield penalty for no-till, even in crops like soybeans, has a lot of people looking for compromises. Some of the more impatient growers are back to mouldboard plowing while others are only willing to go as far as some light cultivation or vertical tillage. It’s time to let people on all sides of the issue have a say.
Finally, there’s been concern expressed that spraying soybeans with a fungicide for “crop health” reasons may be doing more harm than good. It seems one of the most important natural controls for soybean aphid is a fungus. It can do a better job of knocking down aphid numbers than an army of ladybugs. But fungicides don’t really care if their target is a plant pathogen or an aphid pathogen. So, are we risking aphid control by trying to promote a healthier plant and root system with a fungicide? What do the experts say? Stay tuned for articles like these in the Ontario Farmer Production Section over the coming weeks.