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

December 2020

In this issue:

How fields dry

AND WHY THEY CAN BE SLOW TO DRY

December 2020 - This article is a supplement to the Water Management series article ‘A second look at farm drainage’ that appears in the January issue of the Ontario Grain Farmer magazine print edition. It is a case…
Web Special

Accepting GM foods

THE ROLE OF EMOTIONS IN CONSUMER DECISIONS

December 2020 - HOW DO EMOTIONS impact our perception of food and purchasing decisions? When it comes to genetically modified (GM) products, that’s a question University of Guelph researchers can now answer with more clarity than ever before.…
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Web Special

2020 grains, oilseeds, and pulse outlook update

PRICES EXPECTED TO IMPROVE OVER NEXT 6 MONTHS

December 2020 - This Grains and Oilseeds Outlook was released on November 3, 2020. The next Grains and Oilseeds Industry Outlook will be available January 2021. FCC Ag Economics will update its projections about profitability across three Canadian…
Field observations

2020 IN REVIEW

December 2020 - January 8, 2020 As harvest has wrapped up, we will be sharing a summary of the crop highlights by commodity over the coming weeks. This final week we look at soybeans. In general, 2020 soybean…
Effective leadership

MORE PROFITABLE BUSINESSES

December 2020 - IF YOU ARE thinking about investing in training or business skills development for your farm this winter, Kelly Dobson has a simple message – invest in yourself. Dobson is a certified executive coach, fourth generation…
Investing in the future

FROM THE CEO'S DESK

December 2020 - FARMING IS A long-term investment. Many of us live and work on the same land that was tended by multiple generations before us. It makes agriculture a unique business. The decisions we make to buy…
Moving off the farm

FIVE THINGS FOR FARM FOUNDERS TO CONSIDER

December 2020 - A DISTRAUGHT MIDDLE-AGED farm woman asks for advice on buying her daughter a farmhouse just down the road. This is a loaded question. When farm founders are considering how long they want to stay on…
Looking back

10 YEARS OF ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER

December 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 took a look back at the Ontario Grain…
Corteva’s sustainability goals

RECOGNITION

December 2020 - THE UNITED NATIONS (UN) understands the pivotal role that agriculture must play in ensuring a sustainable global food supply. Five years ago, the UN established 17 sustainable development goals; second from the top was a…
Managing risk

THE HUMAN RESOURCES LINK

December 2020 - RISK IS CONSTANT in the business of farming. Production, marketing, financial, legal, and human rank as the top five types of agricultural risks. Management strategies for the first four types are common, but does your…
Tar spot

HOW TO MANAGE THE NEW DISEASE THREAT

December 2020 - THE INEVITABLE HAS happened with tar spot — the disease has now been confirmed in Ontario. Researchers and agronomists have been keeping a close eye out for signs of tar spot ever since it was…
A collaborative effort

RESEARCHING WATER’S FLOW

December 2020 - FARMERS UNDERSTAND THE integral role water plays in farming; but the impact our farming practices have on water — the water cycle and water flow — still isn’t fully understood. Dr. Genevieve Ali, an associate…
GrainTALK for December 2020

AN UPDATE ON GRAIN FARMERS OF ONTARIO NEWS AND EVENTS

December 2020 - FROM THE CHAIRA Q&A with Grain Farmers of Ontario chair, Markus Haerle. What was the most difficult part of 2020 as chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario? Being the chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario, and…
Lease or buy

EQUIPMENT ACQUISITIONS

December 2020 - HIGHER STICKER PRICES and the potential for tax savings have contributed to the increasing popularity of equipment leasing. Whether it’s preferred to buying machinery outright, however, depends on a farm’s cash flow reality and longer-term…
Coping with the unexpected

HEALTH, RELATIONSHIPS, AND MARKET INFLUENCES

December 2020 - WHEN KELSEY BANKS began making payments on her grandparents’ 100-acre Orangeville farm a few years ago, she was excited about the future. She was finally pursuing her dream of becoming a farmer, a role she…
Cropside: When one becomes four

AGRONOMIC INFORMATION FROM ONTARIO'S CROP SPECIALISTS

December 2020 - THREE OR FOUR ears on a corn plant sounds exciting (Figure 1), but in the case of arrested ear development or “bouquet” ears (Nelsen, 2006; Nelsen, 2007), pulling husks back to reveal a fraction of…
New growth

ONTARIO’S 50 MILLION TREE PROGRAM

December 2020 - IN ONTARIO, WE have more than 70 million hectares of forest, accounting for nearly two per cent of the world’s forests and 17 per cent of Canada’s forests. This forest cover is remarkable in size.…
Power of attorney

CONVERSATIONS WITH BUSINESS EXPERTS

December 2020 - (J.M.) WHAT DO FARM OWNERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT APPOINTING A POWER OF ATTORNEY? (A.D.) A power of attorney is a legal document whereby a grantor appoints one or more people to manage their property…
Water management

IMPROVEMENTS THROUGH SOIL HEALTH

December 2020 - Water is a precious resource. The success of farm businesses and the health of our families depend on having a clean and abundant supply. Historically, agricultural technology has allowed us to manipulate the quantity and…