Ontario Diagnostic Day 4: Planting and feeding soybeans, Canada fleabane control, and bleaching corn

OMAFRA’s Horst Bohner and The Mosaic Company’s Aaron Stevanus.

It’s time for agronomy hot topics on Day 4 of Ontario Diagnostic Days!

The annual Ontario field crop diagnostic days held at Ridgetown, Elora, and Winchester are again virtual in 2021. Crop nutrition, weed control and planting depth and timing are the focus of this episode.

We kick it off with Ontario Ministry of  Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs soybean specialist Horst Bohner and Pioneer agronomist Greg Stopps. They’ll look back at the dry planting conditions of spring 2021 and tackle the question — how deep should you plant soybeans?

From there we’ll travel with University of Guelph weed scientist Dr. Peter Sikkema through his weed control research plots. He’ll take us down into the crop canopy and share the best options for controlling glyphosate resistant Canada Fleabane.

We’ll then travel to Elora, Ontario where Bohner is joined by Mosaic technical sales manager Aaron Stevanus and NK Seeds agronomist Matt Rundle. They’ll dig into soybean nodulation, nitrogen rates and what combination offers the best return for growers.

OMAFRA Weed specialist Mike Cowbrough is up next as he looks at what causes corn bleaching injury and how growers can avoid it.

Day 4 wraps up with a visit from University of Guelph associate professor Dave Hooker. He joins Bohner to discuss whether growers should plant soybeans before corn. (More about the series after the video.)

The organizing committees of these three highly successful in-field education and learning events are again partnering with crop researchers and extension, along with support from RealAgriculture and a host of sponsors to bring you a series of eight Ontario Diagnostic Days episodes.

We would like to thank the following sponsoring organizations: The Grain Farmers of Ontario, AGRIS Co-operative, BASF, Bayer/DeKalb, Corteva/Pioneer, Great Lakes Grain, Maizex Seeds, The Mosaic Company, PRIDE Seeds, RealAgriculture, and Syngenta.

The virtual video series gives the OMAFRA field crop team, research colleagues from the University of Guelph, and industry agronomists an opportunity to deliver diagnostic insights in a new way, sharing what attendees have come to expect from Diagnostic Days at Ridgetown, Elora, and Winchester. As part of the offering, continuing education credits (CEU) will also be available.

The series kicked off with this one-hour episode on Tuesday, July 20. A new episode is published every two weeks, on Tuesdays at 9 am Eastern, through to November 2, 2021. Each episode will highlight a general field crop agronomic theme and will be available here on RealAgriculture for viewing, as well as the OMAFRA Field Crop News website. All episodes will also be available in our main podcast feed.

Historically, these in-person diagnostic days have provided some of the best opportunities for certified crop advisors (CCAs) to acquire a broad range of CEUs.

Certified crop advisors will be able to collect eight CEUs by registering for the event here. Registration is required for processing CEU credit requests and can be done up to December 1, 2021. Directions for applying for CEUs will be provided during each episode.

The videos are free and registration is not required for Grain Farmers of Ontario members, media, and those not seeking CEU credits.

Registration Fees  — Only required if applying for CEU Credits

·      $100 (plus HST) for eight CEU credits. A receipt/confirmation email will be provided.

Click here for previous Ontario Diagnostic Days episodes.

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