Field Activities: Nitrogen has been applied to some winter wheat fields, but most of the crop is still without. As field and weather conditions improve, field activities will ramp up.
Supply chain: Representatives from seed and crop protection providers indicated that everything appears to be in good shape at this point.
Winter wheat: Fields that have come out of the winter with good uniform populations generally look excellent. A small percentage of total acres have received an application of nitrogen, but this activity will get done quickly when field and weather conditions improve.
Soybeans: With the likelihood of higher soybean acreage in 2022, more soybeans may be planted following a forage or sod crop. This increases the risk of early season insect feeding (e.g. grubs) and there may be value in using insecticide treated seed under those scenarios. It will be important to talk to your agronomist to make sure that the seed treatment will control insect pests that may be a concern when planting soybeans after forage or sod fields. To search for insect specific seed treatments in soybeans, go to the Ontario Crop Protection Hub https://cropprotectionhub.omafra.gov.on.ca/control-solutions/field-crop-protection
Alfalfa: In the Niagara region, some field are showing significant winter kill and so field should be a accessed as soon as possible so that one can determine if the stand is worth keeping. More detailed information on accessing stands can be found here: https://fieldcropnews.com/2013/03/check-alfalfa-stands-this-spring-and-make-a-plan/
Horticulture Crops
Peas: Planting progress is about 1 week ahead of last year with 1500 acres of peas planted.
Sugar beets: Around 900 acres of sugar beets planted so far which represents about 10% of total acreage.
Slow moving vehicle (SMV) signage: There was discussion around farm equipment with SMV signage getting pulled over and ticketed for travelling at speeds greater than 40 km/hr.The Ontario Federation of Agriculture provides a good resource on road safety and farm vehicles at: https://ofa.on.ca/resources/smv-roadsafety/
Agricorp Update: Damage reports provided at this meeting were only for Chatham-Kent, Essex, Lambton, South-Central and Niagara.
- Damage reports for winter wheat: 240 reports covering 15,000 acres. The predominant peril for this crop acreage was excess rain.
- Damage reports for winter canola: 9 reports, representing 400 acres. The predominant peril was either armyworm damage from the previous fall or excess rain.
Those producers that did not get production insurance for their winter wheat crop last fall can still secure production insurance coverage without winter kill, but they need to call into Agricorp by May 1st. Also refer to www.agricorp.com
Avian Influenza Resource: Any information related to Avian Influenza in Ontario can be found at the OMAFRA website – http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/vet/facts/avian_influenza.htm