Weather conditions make for minimal planting progress

Weather conditions make for minimal planting progress

OMAFRA Field Crop Report for the week of April 25

Due to cool temperatures and wet conditions (in some areas) over the past week, essentially no meaningful acreage of corn or soybeans have been planted. Most field activities thus far have been field preparation such as manure applications and tillage. Winter wheat Fields that went into last winter in good shape, with uniform emergence and […] Read more

(Greg Berg photo)

StatsCan predicts more Canadian wheat acres, less canola in 2022

Lentil, corn, soy acres are also expected up from 2021, barley down

MarketsFarm — Canada’s farmers intend to seed more acres to wheat and less to canola in 2022, according to the first survey-based estimates from Statistics Canada for the upcoming crop year released Tuesday. Canola area is forecast at 20.9 million acres by the government agency, which would be down by seven per cent from the […] Read more

A farm worker unloads Ukrainian-made fertilizer from a truck on April 5, 2022 to use on a wheat field near the village of Yakovlivka, outside Kharkiv, after it was hit by an aerial bombardment. (Photo: Reuters/Thomas Peter)

Farming behind the lines: Ukraine’s farmers sow amidst wreckage

Despite their best efforts, however, famine looms as war rages

In early April, Ukrainian soldiers expelled the Russian invaders from the northern regions of Ukraine: Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions. The wounded enemy left, leaving behind burned-out war machines and the unburied corpses of his soldiers. However, the invaders managed to do a lot of damage. Many of you are probably aware of the atrocities […] Read more

CF Industries’ UAN plant at Donaldsonville in Louisiana. The company also makes UAN at plants in Ontario, Iowa and Oklahoma. (Thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com)

CF Industries warns of shipment delays via Union Pacific

Reuters — Fertilizer firm CF Industries on Thursday warned of delays in shipment of its nitrogen fertilizers, a week after Union Pacific mandated certain shippers to reduce the volume of private cars on its rails. The announcement of delay also comes a month after CF said it is increasing fertilizer shipments to both U.S. coasts […] Read more

Knowing soil test values and applying phosphorus and potassium based on the likelihood of crop response will be more important than the price of either nutrient, says Jake Munroe, OMAFRA field crops soil management specialist.

Critical to account for greater nutrient removal from crops

Adequate baseline P and K levels bring savings opportunities, little yield impact, when fertilizer is expensive

Want to save on potassium and phosphorus fertilizer this year? A joint Ontario agriculture department and University of Guelph analysis from 2015 highlights how growers who meet certain soil fertility thresholds can reduce expensive inputs without incurring notable reductions in yield.  Why it matters: Lowering input costs by reducing fertilizer can be done without generating […] Read more


A custom hauler spreads dairy manure on hay ground using a Husky 18000L Slimline liquid manure spreader on a farm at Wallenstein, Ont., north of Kitchener, in the spring of 2018. (Husky Farm Equipment handout photo via Reuters)

No poop for you: Manure supplies run short as fertilizer prices soar

Ontario honeywagon maker all sold out

Chicago | Reuters — For nearly two decades, Abe Sandquist has used every marketing tool he can think of to sell the back end of a cow. Poop, after all, needs to go somewhere. The Midwestern entrepreneur has worked hard to woo farmers on its benefits for their crops. Now, facing a global shortage of […] Read more

(Alfio Manciagli/iStock/Getty Images)

Australian canola production heading downward, but still sizeable

New second-biggest harvest expected, USDA predicts

MarketsFarm — Despite canola production in Australia being set to drop 26 per cent in 2022-23, the country’s farmers are still projected to harvest the second largest crop, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s attaché in Canberra. In the attaché’s report, released Monday, canola production for the coming crop year was projected to be […] Read more

Corteva is promoting its new biological Utrisha N as a “supplemental” source to be used in conjunction with an existing fertilizer application regime. Shown here is untreated corn (left) versus corn treated with Utrisha N (right).

Nitrogen-fixing input touted for ease of use in all crops

Corteva enters the biologicals market with Utrisha N

Following successful in-field trials in various crops in 2021, Corteva Agriscience is using the N-fixing ‘biostimulant’ Utrisha N as the first product in its planned portfolio of biologicals in North America. Through a novel species of the methylobacterium genus, the foliar-applied Utrisha N enters the plant’s leaves through the stomata and converts atmospheric N into […] Read more



Farm fuel prices rose by about 30 per cent in the 12-month period ending Jan. 31.

Farmers concerned as cost of production soars

Consumer price index increases to 5.1 per cent in January from 4.8 per cent in December; fertilizer jump particularly high

Glacier FarmMedia – Canada’s cost of living continues to rise, reaching levels not seen since the early 1990s. Statistics Canada recently calculated the country’s year-over-year consumer price index for January at 5.1 per cent, up from 4.8 per cent a month earlier. The January rate, the country’s highest since 1991, prompted prompted the Canadian Taxpayers […] Read more