We all lead busy lives that seems to have us looking ahead instead of behind most of the time. Pausing to stop and reflect can be insightful, rewarding and some real fun. Fellow agriculture podcaster Wendell Schumm recently invited me to be a guest on his Ontario AgCast podcast to discuss a full slate of... Read More
Category: Eastern Canada
Ask a typical Ontario grower how their soybeans yielded and you’ll likely hear a number around 47 bushels per acre. Most growers are perfectly fine with hitting this provincial average, but it’s nowhere near the yield potential of the crop. According to Syngenta agronomist Eric Richter, that ‘just enough’ mindset needs to change. “It’s time... Read More
Recent advances in the availability and quality of satellite imagery is providing powerful in-season management insights for corn growers. Many growers feel it's no longer necessary to fly their own drone to capture aerial images of their fields. They can simply rely on a growing number of agronomic services to scout their crop using drone... Read More
If you have a sick animal, there’s no such thing as a “timely” veterinarian shortage. But the current situation, which is seeing fewer veterinary service hours available and much more demand expected, is particularly worrisome. It’s raising caution flags in the veterinary sector, and has a leading veterinary educator searching for solutions. Here’s the situation.... Read More
Next time you chose a soybean variety, don't just consider yield trials. Be sure to take a close look at disease trials; they help determine whether the yield potential of the variety you select will become reality in your field, says OMAFRA plant pathologist Albert Tenuta. In this episode of the Soybean School, we catch... Read More
The Ontario Liberal government has had its share of challenges in 2017. For starters, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s approval rating sunk to the low teens as Ontarians continued to gnash their teeth in response to the government’s hydro power plan. And then there was the government’s plan to increase the provincial minimum wage to $15 by... Read More
When Loblaw Co. and parent company George Weston admitted late Tuesday that it engaged in a bread price-fixing scheme, consumers and experts that follow the industry closely were all blown away. "Shocked and disappointed" is how Dalhousie University's Sylvain Charlebois describes his reaction to Loblaw's admission that they have been fixing the price of bread.... Read More
180 bushels per acre. It looks like Ontario's 2017 corn crop is going to come in above that number and set a new record for the province. In this episode of RealAgriculture Corn School, Peter Johnson and Bernard Tobin dive into the numbers and try to figure out where all that grain came from in... Read More
The federal agriculture minister has named a panel of farmers, academics and industry experts to provide input as the federal and provincial governments review business risk management (BRM) programs for agriculture. Agriculture ministers from across the country committed to a year-long review of BRM programs in July. The review will not impact what the BRM... Read More
As part of its ongoing assessment of neonicotinoid pesticides (or neonics), Health Canada has proposed renewed three-year registrations for two of the three neonics under review, with some added restrictions. The review, which began in 2012, was initiated to assess the potential risk to pollinators from the nicotine-based products used to control insect pests. Farmers... Read More