Thank you to David Townsend who chaired the first breakfast meeting and to BASF that sponsored breakfast. The next meeting will be on April 25th starting at 7:00 am for breakfast (meeting starts at 7:30) at the Malibu restaurant near Exeter. Martin Harry will be the chairman. The meetings will finish no later than 9:00 am.
Synopsis: Only a small percentage of the wheat has received nitrogen. Ohio is considerably ahead of Ontario in terms of spring weather but New York is about the same as Ontario. The snow has just melted in parts of Eastern Ontario. Overall, it’s been a good spring for soil sampling although it’s too wet now. The wheat looks good in this area and plant stands are thick. There is some frost heaving so good weather over the next few weeks will be important. There is powdery mildew present further south. Red clover that was seeded this spring has already germinated. Alfalfa may get seeded this weekend if conditions dry up. Corn acreage will be the same as last year or lower depending on the region (5%). Weather will play an important role in how much corn actually gets planted. Soybean acreage will be up. IP acres are likely lower in some areas but glyphosate tolerant acres are up. The core IP growing areas are expected to plant about the same acreage as usual. The adoption of RR2 Xtend varieties increases as you go further south. Uptake is much less in northern counties but as much as 30% of soybean fields may be seeded with RR2 Xtend in parts of southwestern Ontario. Many of those acres may not actually get dicamba applied. Some growers are planting RR2 Extend soybeans so they can use dicamba as a backup. In many cases growers may just be testing out the genetics of these new varieties for yield potential. Edible bean acres are expected to be the same as last year. Forages look good to date.
Wheat: Although the winter wheat crop looks excellent there are large differences based on seeding date. The percentage of winter wheat acres that are underseeded with red clover varies depending on the region. It ranges from as little as 5% to as much as 40%. This has not changed much over the years. It appears that the interest in broadcasting red clover has not grown due to increased post-harvest seeding of cover crops. The acres seeded with a cover crop after wheat harvest have increased considerably over the last few years. Strip rust is on everyones mind after last year. Strip rust has overwintered for the first time in Wisconsin. Things are dry in the southern US so that may slow the progress of the disease. There are large differences in variety susceptibility so growers need to watch susceptible varieties closely. Many growers are planning on a 2 pass fungicide program to keep strip rust in check. The timing will depend on when the disease moves in. Fields need to be sprayed immediately once rust is discovered. Interest in split applied nitrogen is high but since little has been put on to date weather and workload will dictate how much split application actually takes place. There is some septoria already present in a few fields.
Soybeans: There has been considerable effort this winter to educate the industry on spraying dicamba on RR2 Xtend soybeans. There is still concern that not all growers are aware they must use nozzles that produce extremely coarse or ultra-coarse droplets for this technology. Purchase these nozzles early to make sure they are available when needed. It should be stressed that spraying near vegetable crops or susceptible areas is not worth the risk. There are other products that can be used pre-emergent to control fleabane.
Agricorp: Very few damage claims have been reported to date. A number of new species have been added to the Standard New Forage Seeding Plan (SNFS Plan). These additions are meant to include “cover crops”. Below is the updated species list for the SNFS Plan. It’s an establishment based program only. If a crop is destined for a harvestable forage crop the following year it would be insured under the Premium New Forage Seeding. The window for establishment for SNFS can be either spring seeded (Enrol by May 1st deadline, report spring seeded SNFS by June 30) or summer seeded (Enrol by Aug 1, report summer seeded SNFS by Sept 1).
For 2017, Agricorp has clarified the species insurable under the SNFS plan to support the increased adoption of a broader set of brassicas, cereals, grasses and legumes grown in Ontario. The species covered under the plan include:
- Alfalfa (not u/s into winter wheat)
- Annual rye grass
- Birds foot trefoil
- Blue grass
- Brome grass
- Creeping red fescue
- Meadow foxtail
- Orchard grass
- Perennial rye grass
- Red clover
- Red canary grass
- Sweet clover
- Tall fescue
- Timothy
- White clover
- Buckwheat*
- Daikon radish*
- Millet*
- Oats*
- Oilseed radish*
- Peas*
- Soybeans*
- Triticale*
- Vetch*
- Sorghum*
(* denotes new in 2017)
The 2017 premium rate for Standard New Forage Seeding is $4.55 per acre. The establishment benefit is $54 per acre. All other plan details can be found on Agricorp.com.
April 1: Last day to cancel coverage
May 1: New applications and coverage changes
June 15: Last day to report unseeded acreage.
June 30: Spring seeded final acreage reports due.
July 10: Premiums
Report Damage as soon as it occurs.
Upcoming Event
Southwest Crop Diagnostic Days – July 5 and 6, 2017
FarmSmart Expo – July 13
Eastern Crops Day – July 19
Stratford Crop Technology Contacts:
Horst Bohner, horst.bohner@ontario.ca
Joanna Follings, joanna.follings@ontario.ca
Meghan Moran, meghan.moran@ontario.ca
Jake Munroe, jake.munrow@ontario.ca