Reading Time: 8 minutes Soybeans, soybeans — and more soybeans. That’s the forecast from most corners of the agri-food industry, whether it’s based in Western Canada or in the East. Soybean production in Canada was big in 2014 and it’s on a path to grow even bigger in 2015. At the same time, that growth will come at a […] Read more
The road ahead for soybean growers
Soybean Guide: What makes you so sure that you can plant more soybeans and still pull off good yields?
A cover crop that buzzes
Phacelia can fit a variety of cropping systems, and it’s popular with bees
Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s a new arrival in cover crops called phacelia that has the compelling advantage of being neither a cereal nor an oilseed. In fact, phacelia is a completely new species in Canada’s agriculture, which may prove to be a very good thing indeed. Phacelia is a member of the waterleaf (Hydrophyllaceae) family. Unlike oilseed radish, […] Read more
Ontario’s Agricorp to offer direct deposit
Reading Time: < 1 minute Farm program payments handled by Ontario’s farm support delivery agency, Agricorp, will soon be available through direct deposit. Agricorp announced Tuesday that farmers can expect to see direct deposit enrolment information in their packages during the spring program renewal period, and can apply for direct deposit starting in March. Customers who sign up for direct […] Read more
Pest Patrol: OMAFRA’s Peter Johnson retires
A valued colleague, @wheatpete, goes on to the next chapter of his distinguished career
Reading Time: 3 minutes Whenever I mention the name Peter Johnson to someone in agriculture, it always gets a reaction, be it a smile, a shake of the head or a roll of the eyes. That’s the price you pay for being passionate, unafraid to share an opinion and continually challenging the industry to step up their game. Not […] Read more
On the sidelines
Disease resistance isn’t a big corn or soybean issue today, but...
Reading Time: 6 minutes With so many stories about resistance hitting the farm news in the last five years, any new stories about chemical resistance on the farm now tend to generate one of two reactions: disinterest (approaching boredom) or a touch of hypersensitivity. Neither is the best reaction, especially with all the new learnings about the possibilities of […] Read more
Lamb producer supply loop that works for everyone
If you’re skeptical about value chains, it’s time for a hard look at how these Ontario farmers helped build Trillium Lamb Inc.
Reading Time: 8 minutes Demand is flying high. Lamb isn’t a niche anymore. It’s everywhere on mainstream meat counters. But it isn’t on the farm, and in 2010, Newmarket Meat Packers (NMP) found only 10 per cent of Ontario lamb sales were being met with Ontario-grown lamb. Surely, that sounds like an opportunity. “Our demographics have changed,” says Newmarket’s Maggie […] Read more
Manure for cover crop
Interest in cover crops keeps building; now add some more nutrients
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s undeniable that interest in cover crops has taken off in the past two or three years. Red clover is making a comeback, there’s more being done with multi-species covers, and there’s renewed interest in seeding covers into standing corn crops. There’s even more research into using cover crops as emergency forage sources. Now comes […] Read more
Working together to find solutions to algal blooms
Yes, farming is part of the Great Lakes pollution story, but let’s get the facts straight
Reading Time: 9 minutes Once again, agriculture in Eastern Canada is under fire, this time in the Great Lakes basin. Already bearing media scorn for neonicotinoid seed treatments and biotech innovations, now farmers are getting blamed for Great Lakes pollution. To be specific, the type of pollution in the headlines is eutrophication. It’s a phosphorus enrichment of waterways, and it […] Read more
Soybeans fight to reach full potential against cyst nematode
A growing problem with sudden death syndrome is causing concern for Ontario soybean growers, but one plant pathologist says it’s a manageable concern
Reading Time: 7 minutes It’s an in-field whodunnit — a burgeoning crop disease that closely resembles other better-known problems, but is its own unique culprit, with its own unique symptoms, development and costs. The first symptoms are a widespread mottling and crinkling of leaves on soybean plants, usually coming after the start of flowering, though in rare cases symptoms […] Read more
So close, so far
Farming in eastern Ontario takes a special breed
Reading Time: 6 minutes The area isn’t for everyone, Charles Forman tells me. Squeezed between three of Canada’s most densely populated urban centres — Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto — farming here is almost eerily anonymous. Even other farmers across the province or all across the country easily overlook the farming that goes on in eastern Ontario. Not that the […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
