Canola Seasonal Summary 2023

There were approximately 44,750 acres of canola insured by Agricorp in 2023, which is over 20% more acres than last year. Insured acres include both winter and spring canola. Winter canola accounts for about half of the increase. Spring canola acres expanded in Temiskaming District and counties east of Toronto, compared to last year. Spring […]

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Forage Summary 2023

Bale bundles slump due to high stem moisture. Harvested May 2023.

Winter 2022/2023 Conditions Fall 2022 was open and mostly dry. Growth on annual forages and regrowth on hay fields was faster than usual. Snow cover over the winter was less than normal, with frequent thaws and rain events. Ice sheeting was flagged as a potential problem in eastern Ontario. April had more precipitation than average […]

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2023 Ontario Grain Corn Ear Mould and Deoxynivalenol (DON) Mycotoxin Survey

OMAFRA field crop specialists in collaboration with Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) and members of the Ontario Agri-Business Association (OABA) have completed the annual Ontario corn ear mould and DON mycotoxin survey. Corn ear moulds such as Gibberella and their corresponding mycotoxins occur every year in Ontario. These mycotoxins, particularly deoxynivalenol (DON, also referred to […]

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Profitability of Dry Beans vs Soybeans

There are producers in Ontario who grow dry edible beans every year. Others may only grow dry beans when prices are strong and they fit into the crop rotation. It makes sense to be selective about where and when to grow dry beans, because they can be higher risk than soybeans. What is the profit […]

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Frost Injury in Sorghum Species

sorghum-sudangrass after a frost

Caution! Members of the sorghum family – sorghum, sudangrass, and hybrid sorghum-sudangrass – contain dhurrin, a glucoside that breaks down to release hydrocyanic acid, also known as prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide, HCN). A sudden disruption of growth such as frost, drought or cutting, causes prussic acid to be released inside the plant at a more […]

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Crop Report – Week of September 18th, 2023

The headlands of this field received a fall application to control dandelions, making for a nice seed bed to plant into. The rest of the field had no fall management, and the dandelion pressure is significant and will take much longer to control now.

Three tips for weed management this fall. Reflecting on some of the weed control issues that came up this past spring, below are three key items where management activities this fall can significantly improve control and/or financial return next season. 1. Fall management provides better dandelion control. In the fall, resource allocation of perennial weeds […]

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Planting Date Matters

map depicting the optimum planting dates for winter wheat across Ontario

By: Joanna Follings and Emma Dieleman Ontario’s winter wheat planting recommendations were established in the 1990s using research trials conducted across the province. This research led to the development of the Ontario winter wheat planting date map (Figure 1). This research found that by every day planting is delayed beyond the optimum planting date for […]

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Fall Rest Period for Alfalfa

Key Points When is the fall rest period? The fall rest period (sometimes called “critical fall harvest period”) for alfalfa is 450 growing degree days, base 5°C — or approximately 6-weeks — before the average date of the first killing frost (-4°C for several hours), when alfalfa stops growing. Not cutting during this period allows […]

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Scout Bt Corn for Signs of ECB Injury

In case you missed it, we announced earlier this year that ECB populations were found in Nova Scotia in the fall of 2022 that are resistant to Cry1Ab Bt protein used to control ECB in Bt corn. Given the level of injury found, the resistance was developing over a number of years and went unnoticed. […]

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Palmer amaranth found in Ontario

It was only a matter of time before Palmer amaranth was found on a farm in Ontario. Although technically it was found back in 2007 along a rail line outside of Niagara Falls, surveillance of that area in the years following have never detected any plants since the initial finding. In late summer, an individual […]

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