Canola acreage in Ontario was similar to last year, with 29,019 acres insured in 2020. Spring canola acres have declined in most regions, including a drop in Temiskaming District from about 11,300 acres in 2019 to about 9,300 acres in 2020. Nipissing added 700 acres compared to last year, for a total of nearly 2000 acres. Combined acreage in Cochrane…
2019/2020 Winter Conditions Much of the province had a mild winter, with average amounts of precipitation. Areas of Chatham-Kent, Lambton, Huron, Grey, Bruce, Timiskaming, Cochrane, Rainy River, and Kenora received below-average winter precipitation. Forages broke dormancy early in much of the province, with green-up starting in mid-March in the southwest. Overall, reports of winterkill were normal or below-normal levels, except…
Alexandra Collingwood November 3, 2020 744 Comments Off on Cover Crop-Based Organic No-Till Soybean Production In OntarioWhile there are many benefits of organic agriculture, one of the potential downsides can be the frequent requirement for tillage, in particular during the soybean production phase. Excessive tillage is known to have negative impacts on soil structure and soil health as a whole. In an effort to reduce the tillage requirement for combating weeds in organic soybean production in…
Tracey Baute October 26, 2020 994 Comments Off on Understanding the Impact and Measures Needed to Address Bt Resistant RootwormWhy be concerned about the Bt resistant rootworm populations showing up in Ontario? Dr. Jocelyn Smith, University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus stands in a field that has cross resistant rootworm. The grower experienced more than 50% yield loss in this 2nd year silage corn field planted with a pyramid hybrid in 2020. Jocelyn discusses the impacts of these resistant rootworm…
Co-authored with Albert Tenuta, Field Crop Pathologist, OMAFRA 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,…
OMAFRA Field Crop Team October 9, 2020 886 Comments Off on Non-corn options for livestock producers to manage Bt-resistant corn rootwormIn fields where Bt rootworm corn hybrids have been used for more than three consecutive years, resistance among corn rootworm populations is suspected. Growers can no longer rely solely on Bt hybrids for protection against rootworm injury. The best management practice to reduce the resistant rootworm population is to rotate out of corn for at least one year. Growers are…
Tracey Baute October 9, 2020 1021 Comments Off on Mitigation Measures for Bt Resistant Corn RootwormExtensive injury by corn rootworm (CRW) to pyramid Bt rootworm (Bt-RW) hybrids was observed in several Ontario counties in 2020, suggesting that CRW populations have developed resistance to multiple Bt-RW proteins. The Canadian Corn Pest Coalition (CCPC) and OMAFRA have developed mitigation recommendations for continuous corn producers, in hopes of knocking back the resistant corn rootworm population present in Ontario….
Tracey Baute October 9, 2020 574 Comments Off on Revised October 2020 – Canadian Bt Corn Trait Tables with Events and Resistance StatusWe have revised the Canadian Bt Corn Trait Tables to reflect the current potential cross resistance of corn rootworm in Ontario to all Bt-RW proteins. Here are the latest versions: English: Bt Corn Trait Table (October 2020) with Events and Resistance Status French: Tableau des caractères Bt (Octobre 2020-Français) – Évènements transgéniques et résistances For information on which hybrids or products have…
Photo: It is impossible to tell by looking at frost-damaged sorghum-sudangrass what the prussic acid levels may be. Silage Corn In fields where rootworm Bt hybrids have been used for three or more consecutive years, resistance among corn rootworm populations is suspected. Producers can no longer rely solely on Bt rootworm hybrids for protection against rootworm injury. See the 2020 Canadian…
Ben Rosser, Corn Specialist, OMAFRA While high pH knolls tend to be more common in Ontario, often caused by soil erosion leaving higher pH calcareous subsoils, this is not the case for all regions. How do low pH knolls develop? Low pH knolls (Figure 1) can develop on undulating landscapes where surface soils formed from deposits of sand, such as…
Jake Munroe September 23, 2020 616 Comments Off on Getting to Know Your Knolls Part 1: Understanding and Managing High pH KnollsJake Munroe, Soil Management Specialist – Field Crops, OMAFRA We’ve all seen them. Hilltops. Whitecaps. High spots where the crop struggles year after year. Eroded knolls are common to Ontario agriculture and cost farmers in lost productivity each season. However, not all eroded knolls are alike. In this two-part series, we will explore knolls: how they’ve formed and how they…
Christine Brown September 22, 2020 1731 Comments Off on Unraveling the Mystery of Soil: Manure’s ContributionChristine Brown, Sustainability Specialist – Field Crops, OMAFRA “A radical new way of thinking about soil has partially solved the mystery of why adding manure improves resilience, climate control, and crop yields.” – Dr. Andy Neal, Rothamsted Research. Have you ever wondered why forests can establish and thrive without being fertilized? Or, why grasslands, pastures, or roadside vegetation – including…
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 rapid rate. High prussic acid…
Christine O'Reilly September 21, 2020 520 Comments Off on Managing Jointing and Non-Jointing GrassesChristine O’Reilly, Forage and Grazing Specialist, OMAFRA Grass doesn’t just happen and not all species grow the same way. Understanding how different grass species grow enables producers to make good management decisions that maximize forage production in their hay fields and pastures. Jointing and non-jointing grasses respond differently to cutting, which directly affects productivity and persistence. In an established stand,…
Environment Canada has issued frost advisories for most corn growing areas of the province for the nights of September 18 to 20 which are expected to be near or slightly below freezing (Figure 1). This is earlier than we typically observe first frosts, earlier than our long-term season end dates (Table 1) and much lower than our normal low temperatures…
