Reading Time: 3 minutes Appearances can be deceiving in the midst of continued warming temperatures and timely rains for southern Ontario. That was the underlying theme of the bi-weekly meeting of certified crop advisors and provincial ag ministry personnel here Tuesday. The good news is that corn across much of the region is all but done. Since the last […] Read more
Looks can be deceiving for Ont. crop conditions
Sneaky new diseases
Reading Time: 5 minutes Check out the list of diseases that you need to watch out for in forage alfalfa and you’ll find some very familiar names. Phytophthora root rot, Pythium damping off, anthrac-nose, common leaf spot and Verticillium wilt are all well known — too well known — by corn and soybean croppers. Still, alfalfa brings some additional […] Read more
And overseas too
Reading Time: 6 minutes Sure, it’s a lousy pun, but it’s also true. There’s plenty of “hay” to be made in North American forage markets in 2012. In fact, there’s even lots of the green stuff to be made selling hay to the owners of Ontario’s two million cattle and horses. So why look overseas? Because the prospects might […] Read more
Big prices for forages
Reading Time: 6 minutes Every spring, somebody tells us that opportunity has come knocking. Maybe elevators are buzzing over premiums for identity-preserved soybeans, for instance, or the talk might be about soaring prices for edible beans or some other crop. Savvy farmers have learned that the hype often overlooks some pretty tough realities. But all the same, just because […] Read more
Ont. corn planting past halfway point; soybeans next
Reading Time: 3 minutes What once appeared to be an early spring has gradually shifted to a more normal planting season across most of southern Ontario. At the bi-weekly meeting of certified crop advisors (CCAs) and provincial ag ministry personnel in Exeter, there was notable relief coming from reports of the percentages of corn and soybeans planted since the […] Read more
Ont. corn planting proceeding ahead of normal
Reading Time: 3 minutes April weather has put a damper on the optimism brought on by a summer-like stretch in late March, and that damper has many farmers across southern Ontario questioning the value of early planting for corn. At the bi-weekly meeting here, crop advisors, dealers and provincial ministry extension personnel debated the merits of going early on […] Read more
When it comes to weather, what IS normal?
Reading Time: 3 minutes March 2012 gave Ontario’s crop producers unprecedented opportunities for an early start, from working the soil to planting spring cereals. There were even reports of a few acres of corn going in the ground on or near the first day of spring. For farmers in parts of the U.S. Midwest, the warm start to spring […] Read more
Application deadline nears for Guelph’s ag MBA
Reading Time: 4 minutes Nothing stays the same, be it in agriculture, business, international trade or learning. And the University of Guelph has a unique Masters of Business Administration program that reflects that notion. The school is combining those factors in its MBA (master’s degree in business administration) in Food and Agri-business Management, a program considered innovative in a […] Read more
Weather has Ont. growers heading to the fields
Reading Time: 3 minutes Record-breaking temperatures during the third week of March have many growers in Eastern Canada heading to the fields performing a variety of tasks. That’s the news from Peter Johnson, cereals specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in Guelph. Much of the winter wheat crop has emerged from dormancy in fairly […] Read more
Corn prices: The unfortunate kernels of truth
Reading Time: 6 minutes Talk to growers in Ontario and Quebec where "Corn is King" and there is considerable optimism. Corn prices are riding a wave of consistency unlike any other time, and suggestions from other parts of the world indicate this wave may last a long time. On a continental basis, the U.S. ethanol industry has been both […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
