Breakfast meetings bring crop agronomists and industry professionals together during a key time in the growing season to discuss current field conditions. These meetings are a great opportunity to ask questions, work through field challenges, and share clear, consistent messages for growers across the industry. Participants are welcome to purchase their own breakfast and the meetings offer a valuable chance to connect and network with peers.
The meeting locations and meeting dates for all breakfast meetings are listed below. For the 2026 season, the Ridgetown meeting will be live-streamed and in-person. The Northern meeting will continue as a virtual meeting. All other meetings will be held in-person only and cannot be livestreamed because they are held in restaurants.
If you cannot join us for breakfast, you can catch up on the discussion in the summary notes below (posted later that same week).
Thank you to Alex Zelem (C&M Seeds) who chaired the meeting and to Chris Meier (A&L Labs) for sponsoring breakfast. This was the last spring meeting for 2019. This year’s meetings have been the best attended since these meetings started over 20 years ago so thanks to everyone who attended. Since this has been such […]
This was the last meeting of the Simcoe Breakfast group. We have analysed the spring to death and we can’t just keep talking about planting! Typically by now we have had fulsome discussions on fertilizer, herbicide and fungicide programs but that has not been the case this year. The general story for the region continues […]
Thank you to Ken Currah (BASF) for chairing the meeting. The final meeting for this spring will be on June 25th starting at 7:00 am for breakfast (meeting starts at 7:30) at the Malibu. Alex Zelem will be chair. Synopsis: Significant progress was made in the area the end of last week and through the […]
Thank you to Chad Garrod and Corteva for sponsoring breakfast. With such variable conditions, some producers are finishing planting, while others have not yet started. Even though yield potential has likely suffered, it’s important to recognize the need to manage good and bad crops to get the most out of each. Rural communities are made […]
Quote of the Week: “Lots of sins in the field – we need the rains to hide them.” Conditions Since May 1st the area has accumulated 475 crop heat units (CHU) as of June 11th, 150 less than the 30-year average. Rainfall accumulation is actually 10mm less than average at the Ottawa airport, but patchy […]
The group agreed the breakfast meetings are starting to feel like the movie Groundhog Day, because we don’t seem to have anything new to talk about since meeting 2 weeks ago, or even 4 weeks ago. Some general notes on conditions are that crop rotations are going out the window. Producers are planting what they […]
Breakfast Sponsor: Thanks, from the group to Chuck Belanger and Greg Stewart, Maizex Quote of the week: “Unprecedented” – everybody! Synopsis: As has been the case this spring, planting progress has been impacted by the frequent rain events and planting in most cases has been concentrated on the lighter textured soils in the area. Growers […]
Only one retail outlet was represented at the meeting indicating that field work was still at full speed ahead of forecasted rain for late Tuesday into Wednesday. There has been considerable progress across the area in the last few days. Some areas of the province continue to struggle such as south Huron and Perth and […]
Image: corn is being planted in the region, but field conditions are variable. Thank you to Nicole Beechey from BASF for sponsoring breakfast. The next meeting will be June 12th at 7:30 am. If there are any suggestions on how to improve the meeting, or topics to discuss if you cannot attend, please let Ian McDonald […]
More rain again. Currently at 250 heat units from the 1st of May. 30 year average is about 350 for this time of the year. Rainfall since May 1st is 85 mm, compared to 68 mm is the norm at this time of year. Forages Agricorp has received more damage report calls; about 55% of […]
Thanks to Jeremy O’Shea (Pioneer) for chairing the meeting and to Alex Zelem (C&M) for sponsoring breakfast. The next meeting will be Tuesday, June 11th starting at 7:00am for breakfast and 7:30 for the meeting. Synopsis: There was widespread rainfall over the weekend with most areas receiving 1 to 6 inches of rain on Saturday. […]
Thank you to BASF for sponsoring breakfast. The next meeting will be June 4th at 7:30 am. If there are any suggestions on edits required to the minutes herein, how to improve the meeting, or topics to discuss if you cannot attend, please let Ian McDonald know. Cool temperatures are continuing the slow growth in overwintering […]
It was a small group in attendance at the Simcoe breakfast meeting this week. Some may have been busy with field work, but overall things are still moving slowly across the region and may not be moving at all on heavy soils that remain wet. Those in attendance reported that producers are optimistic planting will […]
Breakfast Sponsor: Thanks, from the group to Stephanie Divitaris, Syngenta Quote of the week: “It is bizarre that winter wheat is at the flag leaf stage and emerging at the same time.” Peter Johnson Synopsis: The rains eased up a bit in the last week or so allowing some field activity, mainly on the sandier […]
Thank you to James D’Auost and Pioneer for sponsoring breakfast. The next meeting will be May 29th at 7:30 am. If there are any suggestions on how to improve the meeting, or topics to discuss if you cannot attend, please let Ian McDonald or Christine O’Reilly know. Cool temperatures are causing slow growth in overwintering crops. […]