Weekly in-season progress reports of the Ontario field crop landscape
Nodulation and Nitrogen Use in Dry Beans In late June, adzuki beans that had been in the ground for 3 weeks already had a few nodules on the roots (Figure 1), and the nodules were active (pink inside when split open). Another field of adzuki planted in the same region around the same time did […]
No-till corn planted into wheat stubble. Photo taken June 25, 2024 near Warkworth in Northumberland County. […]
Seedling waterhemp at the 2 to10 leaf stage in 6 leaf corn. Control must be prioritized since herbicide effectiveness will be reduced as this weed gets bigger. […]
Areas across the province are seeing variability in corn emergence and growth due to frequent rainfalls. […]
Field Conditions It continues to be a frustrating spring through much of the province. Frequent precipitation has continued to cause delays in tillage, planting, and spraying in some areas, and weather earlier this week has shut down field work once again in many areas. However, with 3–5-day windows of good weather, many producers have covered […]
Cereals Winter wheat is advanced by 10-14 days in southern Ontario compared to other years, particularly in early planted fields. Fields in Essex are now at the early boot stages. Regions of the province further north and east as well as later planted fields are not as advanced and are at the first to second […]
Frequent rains and wet soils across the province have slowed or prevented field work. Soil compaction is likely to be an issue this year, especially for farmers trying to get manure spread ahead of spring planting. Fertilizer has been moving out to farms with storage. Retailers are full and ready to apply product once soil […]
Field Conditions Light rains and cool temperatures this past weekend and early this week slowed field drying and limited opportunities for early planting of field crops. While it is generally too wet for field work, conditions are variable depending on rainfall received. The remainder of this week was mostly sunny, but expectations are tempered by […]
Quote of the week: “You can have a 2000 bushel grain cart, but man, it squeezes!” – Adam Pfeffer – concerning the compaction that large equipment can cause in-field. The first agribusiness breakfast meeting of the year kicked off in Ridgetown on April 16, 2024. For the schedule of local meetings across Ontario, contact margaret.templeman@ontario.ca […]
Planting In April 2023, Statistics Canada estimated Ontario farmers intended to plant 2.3 million acres of grain corn, 5% higher than the 5-year (2018-2022) average seeded acres of 2.19 million acres (OMAFRA Crop Statistics). A warm sunny window opened for one week starting the Easter weekend (April 7 to 9) and provided a small opportunity […]
To date the provincial average yield reported by Agricorp for 2023 is 53 bu/ac. This number will be updated as more acres are reported. For comparison the 10-year average farm yield is 48 bu/ac. Seeded acreage was also relatively high at 2.91 million acres. The Agricorp floating claim price was $16.56/bu. Canada is the world’s […]
2022 Planting Conditions Fall 2022 planting conditions were excellent across the province giving winter wheat, barley, and triticale an ideal start to the growing season. Early planting, along with a warm, open fall was ideal for fall tiller development resulting in high yield potential for many. Overwintering conditions were favourable across the region with excellent […]
Dry Bean Acreage In 2023 there were 93 161 acres of dry beans insured in Ontario, which is the lowest it has been in at least a decade. Acreage peaked in 2020 at 157 500 acres and has been declining in the years since. In much of the last decade, white beans represented approximately half […]
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 […]
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 […]