ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER 15 AGRONOMY Stronger Crops. Lower Stress. Higher Yields. Scan to See Real Farm Results CropBooster® agro_CropBooster_OGF_avril2026_01.indd 1 2026-04-14 09:45 “Mycorrhizae colonize plants and increase photosynthesis ... the green colour goes up. In fact, it shifts to a slight blue hue. If you’re wearing Polaroid glasses, you can see it,” Clapperton said. “It does that because it needs more energy. But it also changes the plant’s biochemistry, so the plant produces more amino acids and organic acids. These bacteria and fungi don’t just want sugar — they need nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus and iron. They need manganese and trace elements, too.” “Fungi also hold nutrients longer. That’s why soil mites and other decomposers like to eat fungi,” she said. “They mine nutrients out of organic matter, and then animals are eating concentrated nutrients.” PROMOTING PREDATORS Soil can have plenty of microbes and still be a tough environment for crops without healthy populations of mites and other predators, Clapperton said. “We can get mineral immobilization when microbes get out of hand, and we don’t have enough predators to keep them in check,” Clapperton said. “That’s why soil structure is so important. Predators recycle bacteria, fungi and algae so plants can use those nutrients.” “We can’t cycle nutrients in the soil until we have predators, and we can’t have predators until we have good soil structure,” she said. “You build up bacteria and fungi so predators will come — and you keep them by maintaining good structure. Those predators cycle a lot of nutrients.” MEASURING NUTRIENT EFFICIENCY “Your plant is your best bioindicator of what it’s actually taking up,” Clapperton said. Pairing soil fertility tests with in-season tissue tests can reveal gaps in nutrient uptake and signal changes in soil structure. Micronutrients also matter — especially sulphur. Clapperton said acid rain once supplied sulphur to farm fields, but that source is no longer reliable. “Use sulphur. You can’t build proteins without sulphur. I’m using 10 to 15 kilograms per hectare of elemental sulphur every time I plant, even with cover crops,” Clapperton said. THE MAIN MESSAGE Clapperton also touched on factors that affect crop transpiration, as well as buffer strips, companion cropping and even the science behind the smell of wet soil. Her core message: small management improvements can have an outsized impact on soil health — and on farm economics. She urged farmers to “plant with purpose.” “We’re going to maintain water quality, feed our plants, be profitable and regenerate our communities,” she said. •
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