Special thanks to Agri-Food Labs for sponsoring breakfast. Chair: Eric Richter (author of minutes) Chair for next meeting will be Jeremy O’Shea Synopsis: A tremendous amount of field work has taken place over the last 2 weeks. Field work is ahead of where it has been for the last number of years considering the date. Winter wheat continues to progress…
A collective summary of information gleaned from the weekly breakfast meeting minutes with local crop consultants in Ontario
OMAFRA Field Crop Team May 11, 2015 1192 Comments Off on Simcoe Ag Breakfast Meeting Notes – May 6, 2015Synopsis: An optimism that has been missing from the past few spring planting seasons; field work has started everywhere and planting is occurring into soils that have worked into a mellow seedbed. Less than ideal wheat crops are being kept for rotation purposes (fewer soybeans) and promise of excellent straw prices. On average 20 % of the corn has been…
Brian Hall May 11, 2015 1300 Comments Off on Central Ontario Crop Consultant’s Meeting Minutes – May 5th, 2015Synopsis: Additional acres of winter wheat that were on the ‘watch list’ have been taken out of production. Overall loss of acres is estimated at 10-15% across the area. Corn planting is over 40-50% complete into good soil conditions. Concern with rainfall to activate pre-emerge herbicides. Forage survival has been good for well managed stands. Still some fields of 2014 corn…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 30, 2015 1554 Comments Off on Winchester AgBreakfast Minutes – April 28, 2015Conditions: Below average temperatures persisted throughout most of April. At Ottawa, approximately 100 CHU and 65 mm of rain were accumulated in April. Soils dried slowly and field activity only picked up during the last few days of April. Forages: Alfalfa winter survival is excellent, generally in the 90% plus range. Alfalfa fields not harvested last fall have about 3”…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 29, 2015 1149 Comments Off on Exeter Ag Breakfast Meeting Minutes, April 28Chair for this meeting was Steve Johns. Chair for next meeting will be Eric Richter. Synopsis: Considerable spring cereal acreage has now been seeded, although not as much as intended. Hopefully the weather stays dry so that growers can finish up with cereals this week. Some oat fields have now been seeded for over 10 days. A few fields of corn have…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 28, 2015 1437 Comments Off on Simcoe Ag Breakfast Meeting Notes – April 22, 2015Synopsis: April 1 to April 20 at Simcoe 102 CHU have been accumulated and average temperature was 7.5o C . Official CHU recording begins May 1st. 39.9 mm of precipitation fell as rain and/or snow. Crops that have been planted into plastic are being protected against forecast snow and freezing temperatures. Cool conditions over past few weeks have resulted in…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 27, 2015 1555 Comments Off on Ridgetown Breakfast Meeting Minutes – April 21, 2015Synopsis: Rainfall across the region was variable 0.3” in Essex, 0.7” to 1” in Chatham-Kent, 0.3” to 0.5” in South Lambton, Elgin and the rest of Lambton about 1”. A small amount of corn went in on the weekend; most are planning to start planting around the 25th. Some spring cereals were seeded on the weekend. There have been reports…
Brian Hall April 24, 2015 1361 Comments Off on Central Ontario Crop Consultants meeting notes – April 21st 2015Synopsis: Winter wheat survival has been good in most areas. Nitrogen application varies between 30-40% up to 70-90% in areas to the south. Lots of intentions to apply red clover into wheat, but single cut clover seed is in short supply. Spring cereal planting is 25-40% complete. Agricorp reports only 200 winter wheat damage reports, mostly in southwestern Ontario but…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 17, 2015 1589 Comments Off on Winchester AgBreakfast Minutes – April 14, 2015Conditions: Moderate temperatures at the end of winter, combined with limited precipitation minimized spring water runoff and soil erosion. Soil is drying slowly, allowing for only limited field activity to date. Alfalfa: Winter survival generally looks excellent. Alfalfa has 1 to 2 inches of new growth at this point and is showing no sign of heaving damage. Tap roots just…
April 14, 2015 Malibu Restaurant, Exeter Chair for this meeting was David Townsend. Chair for next meeting is Steve Johns. The meeting on May 12 will be chaired by Eric Richter. There was an excellent turnout to the first meeting of the 2015 growing season. Thank you to all those who attended and participated in the lively discussion. The next…
Synopsis: Very little field work has been done to date. There is still frost in the ground below 4” especially where there are significant crop residues present. The snow melted without any significant rainfall so there was very little ponding of water on wheat and very little freeze thaw. 50 to 75% of the unseeded winter wheat acres will go…
Scott Banks June 13, 2014 1227 Comments Off on Winchester Ag Breakfast Meeting Minutes June 10, 2014Conditions: Crop Heat Units from the May 1st are right about the 30 year normal. Winter wheat: In the case of highly uneven fields, spraying is recommended when about 25% of heads are emerged for 5 days (and head past ligule). The idea is that the first 25% are probably the better heads anyways and waiting may push past the…
The next meeting will be held at the Huron Research Station. Breakfast will be provided at 7 am. There will be a short tour (1 hour). Please bring any suggestions for future research that should be conducted. Synopsis: Considerable field work was possible over the weekend and Monday, especially further south where they were further behind. A lot of field…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team June 5, 2014 1055 Comments Off on Simcoe Agri-Business Breakfast Meeting Notes – June 4, 2014May 1 to June 4Norfolk/Haldimand/Niagara 2014 2013 Rainfall + 120 mm + 85 mm Crop Heat Units ~ 440 ~ 520 Growing Degree Days ~ 295 ~335 Some field work on the weekend ended with another dose of precipitation June 2. Highly variable, most areas received between 5 and 25 mm; with the lower amounts closer to the lake. Rain…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team June 5, 2014 1378 Comments Off on Ridgetown Ag Breakfast Minutes, June 3, 2014Synopsis: Finally significant planting progress in corn and soybeans! Rainfall over the last two weeks varied from 0.5” to 3”. Early corn is at 4 to 5 leaf stage while the majority of the corn is emerging to 2 leaves. The most advanced wheat is heading. Weed control is becoming the order of the day. Lots of conventional herbicides are…