April 18, 2024 Spring has sprung across the province, with wheat greening up and farmers readying planters and other equipment for a busy spring season. Last week, rains were seen across parts of the province, saturating fields, but with a few warm, sunny days, fields will start to dry up as we move closer to #plant24. Wheat Scouting to keep or terminate a wheat field has been ongoing in various areas. Some fields are looking quite good, others are struggling. This Field Crop News article gives a quick lesson on assessing wheat stands. Fields across the province are staging between growth stag ..read more

ONGOING RESEARCH SHOWS THAT CROP ROTATION IS AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION IN GROWING SUSTAINABLE AND PROFITABLE CROPS — and winter wheat is one of the crops that growers should consider including. With a list of benefits, including improving soil health and quality, pest management, and boosting overall productivity, winter wheat is a strong choice for Ontario grain farmers to include in their rotation. Winter wheat acreage has fluctuated over the past two decades in Ontario, with a recent high of 1.1 million seeded acres in 2021, according to Statistics Canada. While there can be initial barrie ..read more

Jeff Harrison, Chair, Grain Farmers of Ontario SINCE GRAIN FARMERS OF ONTARIO’S INCEPTION in 2010, the organization’s new chair, Jeff Harrison, has been involved as a leader in many capacities. Over the years, his leadership path has taken him from being a delegate of a fledging organization to leading the Board of Directors of Ontario’s largest commodity organization. Harrison, who graduated in 1995 with an Honours Bachelor of Commerce in Agriculture degree from the University of Guelph, was involved with the Ontario Soybean Growers (OSG) as a delegate in the early days of his farming career ..read more

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IS A SOURCE AND SINK OF GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) EMISSIONS. Determining if a farm, region, or even a country’s agricultural sector is a net source or sink of GHG emissions requires data collection and analysis of a combination of factors, including local climatic conditions, soil type, production systems, and adoption rates of management practices such as tillage and irrigation. Taking stock of the pluses and minuses in GHG emissions and trends over time is critical and, in some cases, a required action across economic sectors, including transportation, waste, and agricultu ..read more

Jeff Harrison, Chair, Grain Farmers of Ontario FROM THE CHAIR A Q&A with Jeff Harrison, chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario. What are some of your priorities as you begin your term as chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario? Chairing the Grain Farmers of Ontario Board of Directors is a huge honour and privilege. My goal is to continue what I’ve done throughout my years as a delegate, District chair, and director — to do whatever I can to help make things better for Ontario farmers. I appreciate that the Board had the confidence in me to lead them through the next year and to do what I can to make ..read more

Mike Cowbrough, Weed Specialist, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs WITH A NARROW WINDOW TO ESTABLISH COVER CROPS after corn harvest, some farmers have experimented with inter-seeding cover crops when corn is at the 6-8 leaf stage. However, the sensitivity of different cover crops to residual corn herbicides is unknown and could negatively affect their establishment. A multi-year study looked at the sensitivity of six cover crop species to common corn herbicides used in Ontario. Visible crop injury was evaluated at 28 and 56 days after cover crop planting. Biomass was coll ..read more

“ONTARIO FARMERS HAVE BEEN PRIORITIZING SUSTAINABILITY FOR GENERATIONS; it’s second nature to follow practices that protect and preserve our land and farms,” says Margaret Vincent, who farms in Wingham, Ontario, raising livestock and growing corn, wheat, soybeans, and alfalfa. The commitment farmers have to sustainable farming practices has made the introduction of the Canadian Sustainable Soy program a success with customers and participating farmers. Announced in March 2023, the Sustainable Canadian Soy program is Canada’s commitment to producing and providing verified sustainable soybeans a ..read more

A NEW REPORT WILL HELP ONTARIO CORN GROWERS ASSESS the risks of gibberella ear rot and deoxynivalenol (DON) accumulation in corn hybrids. The Ontario Corn Hybrid DON Screening Trials 2023 Report, released by the Ontario Corn Committee (OCC) in February 2024, offers the latest information on hybrid screening research, providing growers with a valuable agronomic management tool. “This inaugural report provides a risk assessment of hybrids entering the 2023 trials, along with a multi-year assessment on the same hybrids where data was available,” explains Dr. Dave Hooker, associate professor at th ..read more

FARMER MENTAL HEALTH HAS BEEN AT THE TOP OF FARM MEETING AGENDAS in the past few years after a landmark 2015 study and a 2022 follow-up study by epidemiologist Dr. Andria Jones Bitton and associates from the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph found that farmers were at higher risk of depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns than the general public. The 2022 study — which surveyed 1,200 Canadian farmers during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic — indicated that 76 per cent of farmers surveyed experienced moderate to high perceived stress; suicide ideation was t ..read more

OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS, THE GREAT LAKES YIELD ENHANCEMENT NETWORK (YEN) participants have posted some pretty impressive results. In 2023, the highest yield award went to Jeff Cook, from London, Ontario, with a yield of 173.4 bushels/acre, with Nick Suwyn of Wayland, Michigan, coming up close behind with 171.4 bushels/acre, and Jeff Krohn, from Elkton Michigan, placing third with a yield of 167.1 bushels/acres. IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT YIELD The Great Lakes YEN is more than just a yield competition: it’s a way to connect farmers from both sides of the border and help them understand more about th ..read more