A collective summary of information gleaned from the weekly breakfast meeting minutes with local crop consultants in Ontario
Photo: Uneven corn emergence in a clay loam soil. Today’s notable quotable was from Paul Sullivan: “Cutting trash [in overworked soil] is like cutting a cucumber on a sofa, there’s nothing to push against to cut the residue”. If you like the maps in this article, similar ones on precipitation and temperature are available from AAFC HERE. Data […]
Weather: Warmer conditions starting late last week have fast-tracked crop growth. Tracking growing degree day (GDD) accumulation – Base 0 – for April and May in Huron county revealed 159 GGD in April and 244 GDD from May 1-25. Rainfall during the past week was sporadic with isolated thunderstorms resulting in flooded fields in […]
Dry conditions have enabled rapid progress on planting. Some areas could use some rain to help crop emergence. The excellent weather conditions meant some districts were not represented on this week’s call, but those that were present estimated overall planting progress at 70-80%. Cereals, canola and grasses are all Base 0˚C GDD crops. The cool […]
19 May 2020, 8:00 am Due to COVID restrictions, ag breakfast meetings will be paired and held virtually by video conference on the “zoom” platform in 2020. The fourth 2020 Ridgetown-Simcoe virtual ag breakfast meeting was held May 19 with 80 participants. Weather: Crop development has been slow coming out of several days of well below seasonal, and […]
Below-seasonal temperatures was the underlying issue in this week’s call. Peterborough County and Kawartha Lakes seem to be the most delayed areas in central and eastern Ontario. Retailers have been able to keep up with customer demands. There was talk of fertilizer backlog at the ports, but so far this has not affected the supply […]
The topic of conversation this week is “cold conditions”. Temperatures were well below seasonal for much of the past week due to the presence of an arctic air mass. Night-time temperatures reached as low as -8⁰C in some parts of southern Ontario. Many parts of the province experienced low temperatures between 0 and -4⁰C and snow […]
The morning of the meeting conditions were sunny across the north, but still cold. Generally, conditions have been sunny and windy so soils have been dry. A rainfall last week provided welcome moisture. There were no major concerns raised regarding grain crop planting and conditions, other than cold temperatures. Some regions are a week or […]
The warm weather in the last week resulted in lots of corn and some soybean planting in the region, though wet soils on heavier ground has not been touched yet, especially in the Norfolk to Niagara region. Planting progress and conditions are much better than 2019. Some March planted sugar beet and carrot fields had […]
People have commented that the mood is generally good out there and farmers are eager to plant. Field work started progressing quickly in the middle to end of last week. Manure is going out, fertilizer is going out and ground is being worked. Planting has started under very good conditions. The typical issues associated with […]
As a reminder, participants can join breakfast meetings by phone without using the Zoom app or logging onto the Zoom website by using the number provided in the breakfast meeting listserv. Corn planting began in earnest on Thursday and continued through Monday. Some producers are nearly done their corn acres, particularly on light ground in […]
Synopsis AgriBusiness Breakfast Meetings have been held across southern and eastern Ontario for many years, and the virtual platform being used this year inspired the organization of a Northern AgriBusiness Breakfast Meeting. Representatives called in from Rainy River, Thunder Bay, Algoma, Manitoulin, Greater Sudbury, Nipissing, Temiskaming and Cochrane districts. This meeting summary includes crop-specific notes, […]
21 April 2020, 8:00 am Due to COVID restrictions, ag breakfast meetings will be paired and held virtually by video conference on the “zoom” platform in 2020. A reminder that participants can join these meetings by phone without using the Zoom app or logging onto the Zoom website by using the number provided in the […]
April 15th, 2020 Overall conditions This spring is starting out with generally favourable weather, particularly when compared with last year. The winter months were also less harsh, resulting in fewer issues with winterkill in forages and winter cereals. Heavy rains and subsequent cold temperatures in the last few weeks have resulted in some kill in […]
The past couple weeks have been fairly dry and sunny, and the amount of rain on Easter weekend was less than forecasted. However, this week looks cool in comparison, with nighttime temperatures dipping below freezing. The low temperatures should be considered by those thinking about planting or applying herbicides this week. Winter Wheat Winter wheat […]
07 April 2020, 8:00 am Due to COVID restrictions, ag breakfast meetings will be paired and held virtually by video conference on the “zoom” platform in 2020. The first 2020 Ridgetown-Simcoe virtual ag breakfast meeting was held April 7 with about 60 participants. Supply Chain: Given COVID restrictions, majority of communication with growers this spring has been by […]