Once the corn crop is in the ground and up, it’s time to see just how you and the planter faired. It’s time for field scouting and evaluating stands, along with early herbicide applications or secondary nitrogen. Why it matters: Though there have been many advances in planting equipment, evaluation of corn and soybean stands […] Read more
2023 Corn Guide
An archive of articles for Ontario corn growers assisting them with growing corn and managing production issues related to growing corn.
Evaluating corn and soybean emergence
There is greater flexibility for soybeans, but looking at stands will indicate next steps
Making row crops work with perennial cover crops
Learnings from an Ontario grower’s five years of on-farm research
Laurent “Woody” Van Arkel likes to push the boundaries of conventional thinking and strives to understand more about soil and crop interactions. Van Arkel, who farms near Dresden, has finished a five-year, on-farm research project as a participant in Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Living Lab Ontario initiative in which he integrated perennial cover crops […] Read more
By the numbers – corn rootworm in 2023
Populations were lower but intensity in some regions was higher
Concerns about corn rootworm have increased in the past two years as numbers continue to rise across the province, particularly in areas where corn is a feed source for livestock. Two years ago, Tracey Baute, field crops entomologist with the Ontario agriculture department, noted that resistance to Bt Cry proteins had become an issue, where […] Read more
Nitrogen use in corn re-examined
Research from the U.S. Midwest sparks controversy, but the solution may be easier
When it comes to nitrogen use in corn, it’s always been a question of how much to apply. University of Illinois research on the source of N – how much a corn plant gets from fertilizer and how much from soil –has initiated a considerable amount of debate since the results were released last May. […] Read more
Biological control could help reduce tar spot challenges
Recent work studies the impact of Alternaria on impeding disease
Researchers and plant breeders have been working to develop ways to overcome tar spot in corn, but there three primary factors confound the search. For starters, the disease pathogen (Phyllachora maydis) only grows on living tissue. Recreating the ideal conditions under which the disease flourishes (temperatures between 16 C and 23 C and relative humidity […] Read more
Corn remains agriculture’s chief currency
Corn Guide: Despite lower acreage compared to other countries, corn in Canada is on the rise
Some news reports suggest soybeans are overtaking corn acres in Ontario or across the country, but corn is still king in row crop production. Its acreage may fluctuate but the potential to expand corn’s reach and usage, and the amount of money invested in research and development, are driving optimism in the market. Why it […] Read more
Old pest for corn growers returns with new threat
Corn Guide: ECB is showing resistance to Bt hybrids, but not in Ontario yet
Bt corn hybrids have been the story of success in transgenic innovation, a gold standard of biotech pest management, first with European corn borer (ECB) and then corn rootworm (CRW). Now comes a case from Truro, N.S., where a resistant corn borer population confirmed in 2018 also appears resistant to another protein. Why it matters: […] Read more
A better system resides with residue
Corn Guide: Lucknow-area brothers like what they see and get from biostrip till
Seven years ago, Lawrence Hogan and Steve Howard decided to change their tillage management. They had worked for decades with a variety of tillage systems, from ridge to minimum, strip till to no till, and then decided to replace the tillage implement with plants. In 2015, they tried no-tilling corn into a mix of summer-planted, […] Read more
Learning to read and react to biostrip till
Growers who use it do their best to make it work, especially for corn
Nick Stokman and Ian McDonald have more than 80 years of combined experience in farming, research and extension. Yet they’re relative newcomers to the practice of biostrip tilling, a means of replacing tillage implements with plants. It’s a complex regimen requiring constant adjustments and monitoring, but it definitely has its benefits, mostly when corn is […] Read more
Many physiological factors driving corn yield growth
Agronomics and genetics interact in many ways and depend on each other for corn yield success
Do genetics or agronomics have the greatest influence on corn? That question was posed by Dave Hooker, a researcher with the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus at the recent Ontario Agricultural Conference. Hooker spoke on day two (Jan. 5) at the two-day event, which featured three in-person venues — Ridgetown, Waterloo and Kemptville — plus […] Read more
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