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

September 2020

In this issue:

Field observations

FALL 2020 UPDATES

September 2020 - November 27, 2020 With less than a month until Christmas, the 2020 harvest is approaching complete. It has been a much more pleasant harvest than in past years, with cooperative weather for most regions. Corn…
Preparing for stress

STAYING WELL DURING HARVEST

September 2020 - HARVEST EQUIPMENT IS field-ready, software is up to date, and clean bins are ready for grain. The busiest season on the farm is quickly approaching — but do you have a plan to manage stress?…
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Soil Test Manager

UNDERSTAND YOUR RESULTS

September 2020 - CONDUCTING REGULAR SOIL tests is an important management tool in a farmer’s toolbox. Soil tests can provide a wide range of information to monitor soil fertility, identify potential nutrient deficiencies, and to make fertilizer decisions.…
Land severance

CONVERSATIONS WITH BUSINESS EXPERTS

September 2020 - (J.M.) HOW IS FARMLAND SEVERED IN ONTARIO AND WHO DIRECTS THE PROCESS? (N.M.) A land severance, also known as a consent, is the process of dividing land. In Ontario, the authority responsible for governing land…
Benchmarking for success

RECENT STUDY BY BDO

September 2020 - FARMERS ARE NOTORIOUS for comparing their operations, always looking to see how they measure up to their neighbours. Even without access to a coffee shop or parts counter to chat about the weather, yields, and…
An evolving story

SULPHUR DEFICIENCY IN ONTARIO FIELD CROPS

September 2020 - SULPHUR NUTRITION CONTINUES to be a hot topic for field crop production in Ontario. Between 2014 and 2016, University of Guelph and Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) researchers demonstrated that sulphur…
Acknowledgement

FROM THE CEO'S DESK

September 2020 - YOU LIKELY HEARD the announcement in July that the provincial government increased the Risk Management Program (RMP) by $50 million, bringing the government’s contribution to the fund to $150 million annually. I hope that you…
Soybean harvest

STRATEGIES TO MAINTAIN QUALITY

September 2020 - WHEN PREPPING AND carrying out this year’s soybean harvest, experts say careful attention should be paid to the setup of machinery — as well as wider agronomic issues and planning. SPEED KILLS SOYBEAN YIELDS Machinery…
Corn harvest

STRATEGIES TO MAINTAIN QUALITY

September 2020 - WEATHER DICTATES THE harvest season. But while hard to predict, it’s not all-powerful. When it comes to maintaining corn quality, prioritizing fields, monitoring potential fungus issues, and calibrating equipment can all help prepare for changing…
Storing grain safely

HOW TO KEEP GRAIN IN GOOD CONDITION LONG-TERM

September 2020 - in these uncertain times, farmers putting grain into a bin may be considering storing that grain a bit longer than they had originally expected. If you are in that situation, there are a few steps…
Harvest safety

PLAN AHEAD TO PREVENT INCIDENTS

September 2020 - HARVEST 2020 WILL be much different than other years, given the need to remain vigilant about COVID-19. “We’ve developed a lot of specific guidance documents to help agricultural workers, supervisors, and employers,” says Jay Remsik,…
Protect your hearing

UNDERSTAND OCCUPATIONAL NOISE ON THE FARM

September 2020 - KIDS THINK THEIR parents exercise selective hearing — that is, choosing what they want to hear, and ignoring the rest. For their part, parents think their kids do the same. But when Emery Huszka’s son…
GrainTALK for September 2020

AN UPDATE ON GRAIN FARMERS OF ONTARIO NEWS AND EVENTS

September 2020 - FROM THE CHAIRA Q&A with Grain Farmers of Ontario chair, Markus Haerle. The AGM is going to be virtual this year (September 15). Why wasn’t it postponed until it could be held in person? The last…
Looking back

10 YEARS OF FINANCE

September 2020 - In recognition of Grain Farmers of Ontario’s 10th anniversary, Ontario Grain Farmer is talking to staff about the impact that the organization has made. This month we sat down with Tom Farfaras, chief financial officer…
Cropside: Twin fans

AGRONOMIC INFORMATION FROM ONTARIO'S CROP SPECIALISTS

September 2020 - WHEN WHEAT REARS its head, sprayer operators consider dual fan nozzle arrangements to improve vertical coverage. Which design, or nozzle arrangement, is best? In 2013, we ran vertical coverage demonstrations using a series of dual…
Water management

PRODUCING THE BEST GRAIN CROP POSSIBLE

September 2020 - WATER AND SUNLIGHT are the ultimate crop inputs — even the efficiency of all other inputs is directly impacted by them. We can’t manage the amount of sunlight over our fields, but we can manage…
Learning the business of agriculture

NEW DIPLOMA OFFERED AT ALGONQUIN COLLEGE

September 2020 - THIS SEPTEMBER, ALGONQUIN College in eastern Ontario will welcome its second group of students into its new two-year Business-Agriculture Diploma program (with co-op option), first launched in September 2019 with 28 students at the college’s…