Ontario Grain Farmer Magazine is the flagship publication of Grain Farmers of Ontario and a source of information for our province’s grain farmers.

Grain Farmers of Ontario

March 2018

In this issue:

Barley and oats

GROWING SUCCESS IN 2018

March 2018 - SIGNIFICANT PRICE MOVEMENT was seen for barley and oats in December and January, which may have some farmers considering spring cereals. Here’s a roundup of best advice on variety choices and crop management for 2018,…
Business side: A residential landlord

CONVERSATIONS WITH BUSINESS EXPERTS

March 2018 - (J.M) SOME FARMERS ARE RENTING VACANT HOUSES ON FARMLAND THEY OWN OR HAVE RECENTLY ACQUIRED, WHAT DO GRAIN FARMERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEING RESIDENTIAL LANDLORDS? (B.K.) There are plenty of rules and responsibilities that…
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Trade talk

FROM THE CEO'S DESK

March 2018 - I WAS PLEASED to see great attendance at our January District Meetings this year. It showed that our farmer-members have a significant interest in our organization, the work we are doing on their behalf, and…
Field technician training

ON-FARM APPLICATIONS

March 2018 - FIELD TECHNICANS PLAY an important role in private and public research programs. Their work includes executing plans for research plots and gathering data from variety performance trials, field crop research, and breeding programs. Technicians come…
Interseeding cover crops

RESEARCH AT THE HRDC

March 2018 - RESEARCH SCIENTISTS AT Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Harrow Research & Development Centre (HRDC) have been exploring several angles of how cover crops can benefit both the environment and a farming operation. “Cover crops introduce…
Keeping tabs

March 2018 - RECORD KEEPING ON the farm is not just about making life easier for your accountant come income tax season. Whether you are using precision agriculture technologies to capture data, using Excel or another database to…
Lessons from the past

2016 NUFFIELD SCHOLAR FINAL REPORT

March 2018 - FOR TONY BALKWILL, the 2016 Grain Farmers of Ontario Nuffield Scholar, the Nuffield journey is coming to a close. Balkwill used the scholarship to develop historical soil-type maps into field-scale management zones. The Grain Farmers…
Compaction action

TAKING DEEPER CARE OF THE SOIL

March 2018 - IF YOU’RE CAREFUL about keeping your fully-loaded sprayer out of wet spots and not leaving big ruts, then it’s not doing any real damage, right? Not quite. In fact, the damage and long-term effects caused…
Market side: Futures trading basics

LESSON 35: TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

March 2018 - CANDLESTICK CHARTING This lesson we will continue to explore basic candles. HAMMER AND HANGING MAN If I had to guess which candles rank in order of importance after the doji, I would have to say…
Paying for power

INCREASE EFFICIENCY FOR DECREASED COSTS

March 2018 - ALTHOUGH ON-FARM energy efficiency has improved in many areas, we’re also using more energy than ever before — larger operations call for more power to run more equipment. And despite farmers continuously implementing energy-efficient technology,…
New screening technology

AN ADVANTAGE FOR WHEAT BREEDERS

March 2018 - IN 2016, STATISTICS Canada anticipated that Canadian wheat production would decline by 19.5 per cent in 2017, attributing the decline to dry conditions in the prairies. But Western Canada isn’t the only region in the…
Cropside: WBC thresholds/timing

AGRONOMIC INFORMATION FROM ONTARIO'S CROP SPECIALISTS

March 2018 - DELAYS IN PLANTING over the last few years have, in many regions, aligned the corn stages that the Western bean cutworm (WBC) moth prefers to lay her eggs on (pre-tassel to full tassel) and peak…
Managing nutrient loss

THE IOWA EXPERIENCE

March 2018 - THE U.S. AGRICULTURAL sector is under pressure to reduce nitrate-nitrogen (N) losses by 40%. In Iowa, efforts to improve drainage water quality through nutrient management have focused on the 4Rs of nutrient stewardship: Right Source…
Improving soybean yields

IN-FIELD RECOMMENDATIONS

March 2018 - WHEN IT COMES to recommending the best strategy for growing high-yielding soybeans, the advice Horst Bohner is likely to give is “it depends”. Bohner, soybean specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural…
Invite the microbes

March 2018 - MIKE DORION WANTS farmers to build healthy soil and grow better crops by throwing an underground party with guests that include a whole range of microbes. “These organisms act like probiotics in the human gut…
GFO Newsletter for March 2018

March 2018 - PROVINCIAL PREMISES REGISTRY The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) has transitioned the delivery of the Provincial Premises Registry Program (PPR) from Angus GeoSolutions Inc. (AGSI) to Agricorp. Your Premises ID number…