Field observations
FALL 2019 UPDATES
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November 29, 2019 Corn The calm before the storm this week allowed Ontario corn farmers a couple of open days to work away at corn harvest. Pulsating winds on Wednesday caused havoc to the remaining…
September 2019
In this issue:
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Harvest technology
CALIBRATING COMBINE SENSORS
- WHEN PERFORMING PRE-HARVEST combine maintenance checks, the bolts, belts, bearings, and other mechanical parts shouldn’t be a farmer’s only focus. Today’s combines come with an arsenal of sophisticated sensors that require their own TLC to… -
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DON testing protocols
- DURING THE SEVERE outbreak of DON in corn during the 2018 harvest season, Grain Farmers of Ontario partnered with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Ontario Agri-Business Association, and the University… -
Cropside: Recirculating booms
AGRONOMIC INFORMATION FROM ONTARIO'S CROP SPECIALISTS
- CONVENTIONAL BOOMS Larger sprayers feature booms with five to 13 sections that terminate in caps (or valves for flushing). Pressurized liquid is fed to the middle of each section and must exit at the nozzle… -
Climate change is changing weeds
RISING CO2 LEVELS MAKE MANY WEEDS MORE COMPETITIVE
- ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE stood at 325 ppm in 1970. In 2015, that number stood at 400 ppm. To humans this is a small, unnoticeable increase – but plants are paying attention. Weeds specifically are finding… -
Field mitigation
REPAIRING DAMAGED FIELDS
- MANY ONTARIO FARMERS planted the 2019 crop in less than ideal conditions. Persistent rain gave fields little chance to dry out and farmers made tough decisions to take advantage of any opportunity they had to… -
The rules of the road
ENSURE SAFETY AT HARVEST
- WITH HARVEST SEASON getting into full swing, it’s important for farmers to understand what the rules of the road are, and how to keep themselves, their employees, and their children safe. During the fall, the… -
Avoiding tank mix errors
CAUTION AND BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
- MIXING MULTIPLE PRODUCTS for a single-spray application has its benefits. Indeed, doing so can take advantage of multiple modes of action, apply fertilizer simultaneously, reduce the risk of drift, save time and money, and more.… -
A farm debt discussion
FINANCIAL RATIOS
- CANADIAN HOUSEHOLD DEBT is on the rise. It’s all over the news, as financial consultants speculate about rising interest rates, soaring housing prices, and consumers constantly turning to credit to purchase the latest tech gadget,… -
Go fast, go green
ETHANOL-BASED FUEL AT THE HONDA INDY TORONTO
- THE TINIEST TWEAK to an ethanol-burning Indy car, one of auto racing’s best examples of finely tuned technology, can have a huge impact on performance. Racing crews spend untold resources seeking an edge in the… -
Lessons learned
FROM THE CEO'S DESK
- IT’S BEEN ALMOST a year since we entered one of the most challenging corn harvests in recent memory. As we prepare for harvest 2019, the issue of another DON outbreak in corn is utmost in… -
GrainTALK for September 2019
GET THE LATEST NEWS FROM GRAIN FARMERS OF ONTARIO
- FROM THE CHAIR A Q&A with Grain Farmers of Ontario chair, Markus Haerle. Q. What is the AGM? Why should farmer-members attend? A. The Grain Farmers of Ontario Annual General Meeting is held each September in… -
Business side: Go global to expand
CONVERSATIONS WITH BUSINESS EXPERTS
- (J.M) CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT GLOBAL MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES ARE AVAILABLE TO CANADIAN GRAIN FARMERS? (R.R.) Today’s global marketplace for commodity exports is highly competitive. Canadian agriculture’s greatest strengths and differentiators are our people and the… -
Maximizing soybean yields
MANAGING HARVEST
- THIS SPRING WAS one of the latest, wettest, and chilliest in quite a while, which made planting of all crops a challenge. These conditions, ironically, might actually result in the largest soybean acreage ever in…