Pesticide Drift Pesticide drift is a complicated subject and it carries significant financial and emotional baggage. This season has been challenging for many agricultural sectors and practices, and spray applicators have been challenged with difficult timing and limited opportunities for herbicide applications. When sprayer operators are rushed or frustrated they have to make hard decisions, and this sometimes ends badly….
Corn Early planted corn reached the ‘knee-high by the 1st of July’. Crop stages range from 12 leaf stage to still a few acres being planted. More so on the heavier soils some unseeded corn acres remain. Corn planted this late will have high harvest moisture and could be difficult to combine pending fall conditions. For the most part, plant…
Corn Grain corn planting is complete on intended corn acres except on heavy clays that received more rain this week. Crop stages range from 8 leaf stage to newly emerged. Overall plant stands look good on lighter and medium textured soils although plant stress is becoming evident on corn seeded into less than ideal conditions. There were reports of tough…
Corn Grain corn planting is largely wrapped up. Depending on the region, anywhere from less than 10% (heavy clays) to 90%+ of intended corn acres have been planted. There were a small number of growers in higher heat unit regions intending to plant final fields of grain corn before the forecasted rain on Thursday, June 20th. There is also still…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team June 13, 2019 2093 Comments Off on Ontario Field Crop Report – Week of June 10th, 2019Corn Significant planting progress was made the end of last week and through the weekend as sunshine and warm temperatures dominated for a string of days. Despite the calendar date and reduced yield potential of later planting, many continued to plant corn noting the competitiveness of returns relative to soybeans. Many areas are reporting corn planting reaching 90-95% of intended…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team June 6, 2019 1675 Comments Off on Ontario Field Crop Report – Week of June 3rd, 2019Corn Progress was made over the last week in areas with lighter textured soils. Those areas now have upwards of 80% of their intended corn acres planted. However, regions with heavier textured soils such as Lambton, Essex, Niagara and Middlesex have 30% of their corn acres planted. Overall, ~60% of the intended corn acres are planted in the province. With…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team May 30, 2019 1743 Comments Off on Ontario Field Crop Report – Week of May 27th, 2019Planting progress remains slow for all crops, and spray applications have also been significantly delayed by poor weather. Temperatures forecasted for early June are relatively cool, remaining around or below the 20°C mark in many regions. Corn Corn planting progress at the end of May was estimated to be less than 50% complete. In some regions, corn planting at the…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team May 23, 2019 2973 Comments Off on Ontario Field Crop Report – Week of May 23rd, 2019Weather patterns have been variable, leading to regional differences in progress on planting and crop growth. Soils continue to remain unfit for field operations in large parts of the province, especially in much of the southwest and parts of eastern Ontario (figure 1). A few pockets have had windows of opportunity to catch up on cultivation, fertilizer spreading, and planting….
OMAFRA Field Crop Team May 16, 2019 1593 Comments Off on Ontario Field Crop Report – Week of May 13th, 2019The weather story continues this week with very little change across the province in terms of field activity, including fertilizer and pesticide application to wheat, manure application, field preparation and planting. A small number of acres were planted on the lighter soils across the province, where conditions permitted, but to date less than 10% of corn is in the ground….
OMAFRA Field Crop Team May 9, 2019 1584 Comments Off on Ontario Field Crop Report – Week of May 6th, 2019Weather The continuing thread of the story for this spring is the weather. Very little has changed across the province in the last week in terms of manure application, wheat fertilization, tillage and crop planting. We continue to wait on weather that allows fields to dry out and support equipment. Eastern Ontario did get a small window to get some…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team May 3, 2019 3608 Comments Off on Ontario Field Crop Report – Week of April 29th, 2019Weather conditions Cool and wet conditions throughout much of the province have prevented any meaningful field work from happening during the month of April (Figure 1). A string of warmer, drier weather is needed before the 2019 planting season can get moving at a steady pace. Naturally, this delay causes anxiety amongst the farming community, but experienced farmers will remind…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 25, 2019 1337 Comments Off on Ontario Field Crop Report – Week of April 22nd, 2019The snow in the north and wet weather in the rest of the province continues to prevent field work from occurring across the province. Widespread rain over the Easter weekend of 30 to 80 mm will delay field operations for another week. Temperatures are slowly improving with highs in the low double digits up to 20°C in the southwest part…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 18, 2019 1238 Comments Off on Ontario Field Crop Report – Week of April 15th, 2019To date, very little field activity due to cool, wet spring so far this season. Most areas received significant rain this past weekend, resulting in saturated soils and ponding in fields (Figure 1) and in a few spots some soil erosion. Overall temperatures have been too cold to stimulate new growth on the winter wheat or alfalfa yet. Figure 1….
Planting The March 2018 planting intentions report by Statistics Canada estimated Ontario farmers intended to plant 2.2 million acres of grain corn, comparing to a 5-year (2013-2017) average of 2.1 million acres (OMAFRA Crop Statistics). A cool April coupled with snow and freezing rain events through to the middle of the month limited early field work. A warm dry period…
Summary The saying in cropping “rain makes grain” was certainly true for soybeans in 2018. Above average rainfall in late July and August resulted in the highest provincial yields on record. What makes this achievement especially impressive is that much of May, June, and even the first half of July were very dry. At the end of the day Ontario…