25 ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER DECEMBER 2024/JANUARY 2025 THERE’S AN EASIER WAY TO MAXIMIZE YOUR FIELD'S POTENTIAL SOYA IP SIMPLIFIÉE 1.888.427.7692 CERESCO.CA SIMPLIFIED IP SOYBEANS OFFERING YOU MORE, YIELDS BETTER RESULTS! Guaranteed Varietal Premium More Delivery Points In Quebec And Ontario Year-Round Agronomic Support Storage Premium Weed Management Program 100% Buyback Program With Ceresco’s Premium Buy Back IP Program and a full team dedicated to help you achieve your goals, we make it easier than ever to get every dollars worth for your fields. short answer is, if you don’t have a soil test to start with, it’s all a guessing game. If you don’t soil test, you can’t complain about the price of fertilizer.” MIXED PEST PRESSURE As with some weed species, the mild winter also enabled greater survivability and earlier emergence for many insect pests. Tracey Baute, OMAFA’s field crop entomologist, says the volume and wide variety of cutworms pressuring crops in more northern regions early in the growing season was significant. With comparatively few boots on the ground to scout, tracking each species was a challenge. “Part of the reason we learned about some of these cutworms was because of our collaboration with Manitoba and Quebec. The theme of all of this is our best efforts come from learning from our partners too,” says Baute. Other standout cases include slugs and corn leaf aphids – the latter generating particularly high infestations in some corn fields in the province’s border regions. On slugs, Baute says populations were frequently active all season despite some instances of hot, dry weather. They were particularly notable in no-till fields and those with cover crops. While expected, she says it is an unfortunate situation for those trying to build soil health. “We need more integrated strategies,” she says, suggesting that plants that could lure slugs away or deter them from entering a crop might be a future remedy. “Can we limit the areas we have to control to make it more cost-effective? Just more predictability is needed. I think a lot of growers who had this problem were looking for answers, and we unfortunately didn’t have them right away. It’s going to be a lot of ground-truthing and testing ideas … A decent winter could help reduce our risk.“ “Unfortunately, we don’t necessarily see that as well as we used to, and even further north. It’s definitely enabling the extension of some pests. We really need to be more aware. Predictive tools would help, and ensuring we’re staying in touch within and outside of the province so we can respond more quickly.” PATHOGENS MOVE QUICK On the disease front, cereals specialist Joanna Follings says the past year served as a good reminder of the importance of timely scouting and fungicide application. 2024 started off well, with good winter cereal survivability and vigorous early growth. Nitrogen and sulfur application was a challenge, though, given spring rains and the rapid spread of stripe rust alarmed many cereal growers. Follings says it took just two weeks to spread province-wide. “I think for growers that had resistant or more tolerant varieties, they had a wider window for [control] decision making,” she says. “It was a clear learning year in this regard. It was a reminder to all of us just how quickly stripe rust can move and how impactful it can be.” Fusarium head blight was also identified as a common issue in winter wheat due to warm and humid conditions during pollination and grain fill. However, Follings says this did not appear to translate to high toxicity. She also echoes Baute’s assessment of how warmer winters are affecting cereal pests – particularly cereal leaf beetles. continued on page 26
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