- Part 20

Mount Forest Ag Breakfast Minutes – April 23, 2019

A field of winter wheat in April, 2019 that shows parts of the field with adequate stands and areas of the field that have winter killed and are bare.

OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 24, 2019 1120 Comments Off

Who was in attendance? 26 agricultural professionals working in the counties of Waterloo, Wellington, Huron, Grey, Bruce, Dufferin and Simcoe counties. The past week’s weather summary: 40-50 mm of rainfall fell over the Easter weekend and understandably, field conditions are extremely wet with essentially no field activity. This will put additional pressure on livestock producers who may have significant inventories of…

East Central Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting – April 17, 2019

OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 24, 2019 966 Comments Off

Ag Business Minutes

Image: It’s still too early to tell how forages have overwintered in central Ontario. The first East Central Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting of 2019 had a large turnout. With good yields in 2018, there is a lot of optimism among farmers in the region. The next meeting will be May 1st at 7:30 am. If there are any suggestions on how to improve…

Should I Always Apply Boron to Canola during Early Flower Stages?

Meghan Moran April 20, 2019 2371 Comments Off

Canola

Boron application at flowering is a common practice for Ontario canola growers. Canola has a higher requirement for boron than crops like wheat and barley, so it make sense to give canola a shot of this micro nutrient. Timing the application during reproductive stages makes sense too, because boron deficient plants have been shown to express slow growth of pollen…

Managing Bare Areas in Winter Wheat Stands

Joanna Follings April 19, 2019 71250 Comments Off

Winter Wheat

How should one deal with large bare spots in a wheat field that is otherwise in good condition? Unfortunately, there isn’t a one size fits all solution because the size and number of bare spots in fields greatly varies. Here are some options and considerations for filling in those bare spots. Leave the Bare Spots Alone While doing nothing with…

Ontario Field Crop Report – Week of April 15th, 2019

Figure 2: Winter Wheat with possible winterkill, buy too early to assess stands at this stage

OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 18, 2019 1264 Comments Off

Crop Reports

To 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….

Winchester Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting – April 16th, 2019

OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 17, 2019 1195 Comments Off

Ag Business Minutes

To date, next to no field activity due to cool, wet spring so far this season. Areas around the region received over 50 mm of rain this past weekend, resulting in saturated soils and ponding in fields and in a few spots some soil erosion. Overall temperatures have been too cold to stimulate new growth on the winter wheat or…

Exeter Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting Minutes – April 16, 2019

OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 16, 2019 1220 Comments Off

Ag Business Minutes

Thank you to Mike Verhoef who chaired the first breakfast meeting and to Steve Johns who sponsored breakfast. The next meeting will be on April 30 starting at 7:00 am for breakfast (meeting starts at 7:30). Dave Townsend will be the chairman. The meetings will finish no later than 9:00 am. There was an excellent turn out with many good…

Timing Spring Turn-out

Forage plants regrow by drawing on energy reserves in their roots

Christine O'Reilly April 16, 2019 2076 Comments Off

Pastures

Spring is in the air, and livestock and farmers alike are eager to start the grazing season. Timing that delightful move is critical, as spring grazing management sets up both yield potential of the pasture and the amount of gain achievable for young stock. How early is too early? Livestock should go out on pasture when grasses have fully…

Simcoe Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting – April 10th, 2019

OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 12, 2019 1301 Comments Off

Ag Business Minutes

It was nice to catch up with everyone at the first Simcoe breakfast meeting of the season on Wednesday, April 10th. John Hussack chaired the meeting, which focused on the condition of the winter wheat crop. At John’s suggestion, learnings from winter meetings were also discussed. Winter Wheat The big question right now is whether to keep poor looking…

Storage Tips for Mouldy Corn (Part 2): Spring Edition

Diagram of a grain bin showing cool air settling down through the centre of a cold grain mass and rising up the inside wall of a grain bin being warmed by the sun, resulting in a zone of high moisture at the bottom of the bin in the centre.

James Dyck April 12, 2019 1473 Comments Off

Corn

The 2018 corn harvest that many might rather forget is finally past us… yields were high but unfortunately so were DON levels in many parts of the province. Many farmers chose to dry and store their high-DON corn rather than sell it at harvest, in hopes that better marketing opportunities might open up. As long as your corn was dry…

1st of Season – Ridgetown Agribusiness Breakfast Meeting Minutes – April 9, 2019

OMAFRA Field Crop Team April 10, 2019 1696 Comments Off

Ag Business Minutes

Ridgetown Ag Breakfast Meeting Minutes – April 9, 2019 Breakfast Sponsor: Thanks from the group to Richard Anderson, BASF Synopsis: The recent warm temperatures have helped to green up the wheat especially in the southwestern part of the province. Field work has been limited to some nitrogen and red clover applications, with a few acres of sugar beets, onions, carrots…

Precision Ag Advancement for Ontario

image of the interactive story map showcasing the results of the precision agriculture advancement for Ontario project

Nicole Rabe April 10, 2019 2275 Comments Off

Precision Agriculture

NEW TOOL FOR UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH RESULTS FROM THE 2016 and 2017 growing seasons in the Precision Agriculture Advancement for Ontario project can now be found through an interactive story map available online at http://bit.ly/2wIVgGq. The story map can show multiple layers of data for each field, including elevation, soil conductivity, yield, target N rate, soil sample, and yield potential index…

What are these Flies in my Canola? Understanding Delia Species

Meghan Moran April 9, 2019 1804 Comments Off

Canola

This article was written by Meghan Moran (OMAFRA Canola & Edible Bean Specialist) , Travis Cranmer and Dennis Van Dyk (OMAFRA Vegetable Crop Specialists) There have been times growers and agronomists have asked, “What is this house fly-looking insect I am seeing in canola fields?” The flies were particularly abundant in some regions in 2017, and at the time it was…

What’s Working on the Farm? Practical Solutions for Problem Weeds

Mike Cowbrough March 22, 2019 2597 Comments Off

Weeds

“Do not be cheap. Weed control is an investment into the current and future crops on every field.” That was parting advice from Norfolk and Oxford County farmer Ann Vermeersch at the 2019 FarmSmart Conference in Guelph. In front of 80 farmers and agronomists, I moderated a session with Vermeersch and Steph Kowalski, a Certified Crop Advisor and Lead…

Should Soybeans be Planted Before Corn?

Horst Bohner March 21, 2019 3789 Comments Off

Soybean

Early planting has been adopted as a management strategy to achieve maximum yield in modern soybean production. There is considerable evidence that soybeans planted in late April and early May yield more than beans seeding during the second half of May. Ontario trials have shown that in some years early planting can provide a 10 bu/ac yield advantage. In the…