Reading Time: < 1 minute The Ontario Agricultural College’s department of animal and poultry science has hatched a new name meant to better take in the scope of its work. The new name, the Department of Animal Biosciences, “helps describe the department’s evolution from a livestock husbandry department in the 1870s to the highly dynamic and integrated department it is […] Read more
Guelph animal science department rebrands
The crop production wheel
Reading Time: 2 minutes Two years ago in the September edition of Country Guide, we ran a sidebar about a “complete systems” approach to production agriculture, including the depiction of a “production wheel.” The image comes from Don Lobb, an advocate for improving soil health and tile drainage. He created the guideline in a circular or wheel configuration, and […] Read more
Ont. group to weigh school models for Kemptville
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Ontario government has set up its working group to consider options for the Ontario Agricultural College’s Kemptville campus beyond this year. The University of Guelph, which operates OAC, announced in spring 2014 it would wind down operations at its Kemptville and Alfred satellite campuses and consolidate its ag education and research operations at its […] Read more
Making the case in the neonic debate
Can agriculture afford to lose to the non-science of neonic opponents? The costs would be even higher than you probably think
Reading Time: 13 minutes Here in early 2015, it’s becoming a recognized pattern in agriculture: another day, another article, another proclamation and another call for action, all revolving around farmers’ use of neonicotinoid seed treatments and the alleged damage this does to bees and bee colonies. To say there is an abundance of information on this topic is one […] Read more
Editor’s Desk: Get your mind around it
Reading Time: 2 minutes Of all the sciences, which is the most important for your farm? Is it biology, or soil science, or chemistry, or electronics? My vote is for none of those. My vote is for psychology. I hope that surprises you, because it sure surprised me. I had just finished talking to young wannabe farmers at Ridgetown […] Read more
New research shows how your crop gets a sneak peek at weeds
It turns out your crop sees and reacts to weeds before the crop even emerges
Reading Time: 6 minutes Weed science is constantly evolving and adapting as it learns more about the basic interactions of crops and weeds in the field. Now, get ready for another evolutionary rethink. Early in 2014, Dr. Clarence Swanton, a professor and researcher with the department of plant agriculture at the University of Guelph, brought to light new research […] Read more
Seed inoculation gains ground
Soybean Guide: OMAFRA’s Horst Bohner now recommends always inoculating. “There are some real benefits.”
Reading Time: 6 minutes In the world of agriculture, there are very few constants. Most practices and standards last only until new research shifts our thought processes, or until a new challenge or a new opportunity changes the landscape. There are plenty of recent examples. Within the past decade, the hard-and-fast rule of always planting corn first has changed; […] Read more
Digging into food-grade soybeans
Soybean Guide: This four-year study aims to exploit the best traits and qualities in IP soys
Reading Time: 6 minutes Agriculture often has to take a look back in order to see what’s ahead. Farmers do it with their cropping plans and seed orders. Retailers and suppliers do it too, using the previous year’s experience to improve in the year ahead. Now the food-grade soybean sector is embracing the same strategy. Thanks in part to […] Read more
Francophone ag education in E. Ont. under new management
Reading Time: 2 minutes An established francophone college has been named to co-ordinate delivery of French-language agricultural education programs in eastern Ontario. The province on Thursday announced Ottawa-based Collège La Cité will take on that role — and take the lead in delivering several such programs this fall at Campus d’Alfred (UGCA), which, for now, is a francophone campus […] Read more
Who’s buying up Canadian farmland?
Are non-farmers snapping up too much Canadian farmland? Nobody knows, especially in Ottawa
Reading Time: 5 minutes Again this winter, ownership of farmland is a heated topic in coffee shops across rural Canada. Rumours abound. Sometimes, it’s foreign buyers who are said to be gobbling up huge chunks of prime farmland, paying prices that Canadian farmers can’t afford. Other times, it’s pension funds or rich non-farm investors. Whoever tells the stories, the […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
