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

Author: Matt McIntosh

An all-seeing agronomic tool?

THE CHANGING CAPABILITIES OF SATELLITES

November 2019 - BETTER RESOLUTION, MORE frequent fly-overs, and more refined data interpretation has made satellite technology more useful for farmers looking to improve their agronomic practices. Limitations still exist, however, though efforts to continually refine the use…
Climate change is changing weeds

RISING CO2 LEVELS MAKE MANY WEEDS MORE COMPETITIVE

September 2019 - 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…
Avoiding tank mix errors

CAUTION AND BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

September 2019 - 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.…
Making fertilizer work in strip-till

A PROFILE OF TWO RESEARCH PROJECTS

August 2019 - AS MORE FARMERS investigate the potential of strip-tillage, and as nutrient runoff issues continue to be a major environmental concern, more effort is being invested in understanding nutrient management between conventional and no-till systems. Since…
Controlling weeds before wheat

MULTIPLE FACTORS TO CONSIDER

August 2019 - THERE IS NO universal method of weed control. This is particularly true when managing the growth and spread of problem weeds on fallow land, and in a compressed growing season. According to ministry and academic…
Web Special

Avoiding mistakes with cover crops

UNDERSTANDING DIFFERENCES LEADS TO MORE EFFECTIVE USE

July 2019 - “Don’t mess up an opportunity to do some soil maintenance […] put a cover crop on. It doesn’t have to be expensive.” This sentiment was expressed by Anne Verhallen, soil management specialist, horticulture, for the…
Web Special

Biological inputs

THEIR POTENTIAL ROLE IN SOIL HEALTH MANAGEMENT

July 2019 - CAN BIOLOGICAL INPUTS help increase farm profitability and sustainability? According to academic and ministry experts, the answer is – maybe. More specifically, they say new microbial inputs might play a positive role if used in…
Web Special

Winter wheat in challenging years

THINGS TO CONSIDER

July 2019 - THE 2018-2019 winter wheat growing season has not been easy. More challenging conditions during both fall planting and the spring mean producers need to be more mindful of additional production issues. During the Southwest Crop…
Gene editing

CANADIAN BARRIERS AND PERCEPTIONS

June 2019 - GENE-EDITING TECHNOLOGY has the potential to revolutionize crop and animal development globally. For Canadian researchers, however, the federal government’s ambiguous and slow-moving regulatory system is preventing new agricultural products from reaching farmers and consumers alike.…
Improving precision ag effectiveness

NEW ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AT GUELPH

February 2019 - JOHN SULIK, GEOGRAPHER by trade, joined the University of Guelph’s Department of Plant Agriculture in June 2018. His mission — to use a wide range of biological data to make precision agriculture actually pay for…