Researcher believes plant growth regulators are worth a try

Mar 08, 2023

Research being conducted on plant growth regulators (PGR) show the product can help a cereal crop but there are no guarantees.

There has been increased use of these products on the prairies, according to Dr. Breanne Tidemann, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada based in Lacombe, Alta.

Tidemann said PGRs are chemicals that are applied to plants that change how they grow. In western Canadian agriculture, it is typically used to shorten the plants and then reduce their chance of lodging in field crops.

“Wheat and barley in particular are the two that we’re using them on, and the goal is to be able to up nitrogen rates and still get some increased yield, but not get the increased height with the plants falling every which way that we sometimes see when we do that,” Tidemann said.

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Border View Farms is a mid-sized family farm that sits on the Ohio-Michigan border. My name is Nathan. I make and edit all of the videos posted here. I farm with my dad, Mark and uncle, Phil. Our part-time employee, Brock, also helps with the filming. 1980 was our first year in Waldron where our main farm is now. Since then we have grown the operation from just a couple hundred acres to over 3,000. Watch my 500th video for a history of our farm I filmed with my dad.

I started making these videos in the fall of 2019 as a way to help show what I do on a daily basis as a farmer. Agriculture is different from any other industry and I believe the more people that are showing their small piece of agriculture, helps to build our story. We face unique challenges and stressful situations but have some of the most rewarding payoffs in the end. I get to spend everyday doing what I love, raising my kids on the farm, and trying to push our farm to be better every year. I hope that I can address questions or concerns that you might have about farms and agriculture.