Ontario Grain Farmer August 2021

ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER 11 AUGUST 2021 up to its potential, and how it compares to others who are partaking in the Great Lakes YEN. FARMER INVOLVEMENT The Great Lakes YEN will help farmers learn more about how their wheat crop develops and what the key components of yield are. This is a program that will encourage farmers to try new things and learn from data that is comparable across the Great Lakes region. It is an opportunity to share and improve knowledge and datasets. The hope is that the Great Lakes YEN will help farmers work with their peers to bring greater benefit to their farms, their farming practices, and to their bottom line. Farmers participating in the project will be collecting soil, tissue, shoot, and grain samples at specific times throughout the year and sending them to a lab for analysis. It is important that farmers follow the YEN protocol and submit the required data in order for the project to be a success. The project committee is choosing farmers based on a number of criteria, including specific geographical areas to ensure there are diverse soil types in the program. Farmers will need to share their crop production practices as well, so that researchers can analyze what inputs or field management techniques are causing the crop to behave in a certain way. An open call for farmer participants was made in July. One hundred farmers (half from Ontario and half from the U.S) are being selected for the first official year of the project which will see harvest in 2022. More information on the Great Lakes YEN can be found at www.GreatLakesYEN.com. Paige Miller is a communications coordinator with Grain Farmers of Ontario l This article features an initiative of Grain Farmers of Ontario's research and agronomy departments.