Insights and Stories of Ralph Pearce

Sep. 20, 2013 at 5:33 pm CDT

Every day, there’s another story, another study or another opinion expressed on what to do or who’s to blame in the issue surrounding the use of seed treatments in corn and soybeans, and the impact on bee health. It’s a contentious issue, one that has many on either side — […]

By Ralph Pearce

Aug. 15, 2013 at 3:52 pm CDT

Corn production, generally, has seen a slight drop-off in terms of expected yields and performance in the field. Monthly estimates from USDA have been downgraded by an almost two-bushel per acre drop in the past week. But in Ontario, growers are concerned with the effects of higher-than-normal rainfall and a […]

By Ralph Pearce

Aug. 6, 2013 at 1:02 pm CDT

Bayer CropScience says it’s working to address concerns that its neonicotinoid insecticide seed treatments are contributing to bee mortality. During a recent grower information day at the company’s research farm here, Bayer representatives Greig Zamecnik and Luc Bourgeois said company researchers and advisers are working on several different levels, including […]

By Ralph Pearce

Jul. 22, 2013 at 3:28 pm CDT

Three years ago, Dr. Ford Baldwin stood in a field near Widener, Arkansas, and spoke of the many challenges facing growers in the Mid-South of the U.S. He talked about the advance of resistant weed species and how, five years prior to that, he’d written about the looming “train wreck” […]

By Ralph Pearce

Jul. 19, 2013 at 3:55 pm CDT

Call it a lot of bad news contrasting against the potential for some upside. Yes, early July — particularly in the southwest corner of Ontario — was not only wet, it was very wet — a deluge that has damaged some crops and probably lowered yield. But the bright spot […]

By Ralph Pearce