GrainTALK for June/July 2022
AN UPDATE ON GRAIN FARMERS OF ONTARIO NEWS AND EVENTS
YOUNG LEADERS WANTED!
Grain Farmers of Ontario seeks applicants for the American Soybean Association Corteva Young Leader program. This program provides a two-phase training program that engages in leadership training that will enhance your farming operation and your service in other organizations, gives you tools to better enable you to tell your story, and provides an opportunity to meet and learn from agriculture industry leaders and other farmers.
One soybean farming couple or individual will be selected as the Ontario representative for the Class of 2023. Training takes place in Iowa in November and in conjunction with the Commodity Classic in March 2023.
Applications will open in early June at www.soygrowers.com. For more information, read about the experience of Kevin Vander Spek, the 2022 Ontario Young Leader, at www.ontariograinfarmer.ca; or contact Rachel Telford, manager of Member Relations, at rtelford@gfo.ca. •
NEW EDUCATIONAL TRAILER
Grain Farmers of Ontario launched a new Good in Every Grain educational trailer at the 2022 March Classic.
The 26-foot trailer replaces the 52-foot Growing Connections trailer used since 2014, and features a virtual reality 360 degree tour of a grain farm and interactive components, including trivia games and video consoles. The trailer will be featured at consumer-facing events across the province this year, including the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill, the Honda Indy, the Canadian National Exhibition, the International Plowing Match, and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.
The trailer will also be part of the Good in Every Grain educational program. It will visit schools across Ontario to teach elementary school students how grains are grown, what grains are used for, and how farmers care for the environment.
The Grain Discovery Zone trailer will continue to visit smaller fairs and exhibitions in Ontario. •
NEW OMAFRA FIELD CROP STAFF
Grain Farmers of Ontario welcomes Sophie Krolikowski, cereal crop specialist, and Laura Scott, cropping systems specialist, to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
Krolikowski, who will work from the Stratford office, has more than five years of experience as an entomology lab technician with Agriculture Agri-Food Canada in London, Ontario. She has an M.Sc. in Environment and Sustainability from the University of Western Ontario.
Scott will be working in the Kemptville office. She brings relevant experience working as a field crop agronomist with Harvex Agromart in eastern Ontario for the past three years. She is a graduate of the University of Guelph with a BA from the Department of Food, Agriculture and Resource Economics. •
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Go online to www.gfo.ca and click on the button. •
MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION CHANGES
Farmer-members and industry associates who have changes to their mailing address or wish to cancel their subscription to the Ontario Grain Farmer magazine can contact Phaedra McIntosh, Grain Farmers of Ontario fee collection and reporting specialist, at pmcintosh@gfo.ca or 519-767-4130. •
MARKET COMMENTARY
by Philip Shaw
War in Ukraine has redefined our grain market pricing environment into something we haven’t seen before. Violent volatility and price levels not seen since 2012 have been the result. In the April 8 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) WASDE report, Ukrainian corn exports were reduced by 4.5 MMT to 23 MMT, but these estimates were very fluid in wartime. At the same time, USDA reduced domestic corn ending stocks to 1.44 billion bushels, and soybeans stocks were reduced to 260 million bushels.
In Ontario, the Canadian dollar fluttering at the 78 and 79 cents U.S. level continues to add even greater stimulus to Ontario cash prices with these inflated futures prices. Resting standing orders for grain in this volatile market environment can help manage this risk. •
