DRESDEN, Ontario — Agriculture may be facing a critical labour shortage, but resolving the problem will likely need to wait. “I don’t think the Conservatives will want to touch it until after the election,” said Mark Chambers, co-chair of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Task Force. Chambers has heard that Liberal leader Justin Trudeau may make […] Read more
Stories by Jeffrey Carter
Ont. aims to double sugar beet acres
SARNIA, Ont. — The creation of an organization representing all of Canada’s sugar beet growers isn’t a top priority for the chair of the Ontario Sugarbeet Growers’ Association. Mark Lumley said that’s because of the major differences between the Alberta and Ontario industries. “We’d need to find some synergies there to make it work,” he […] Read more
Weed control increasingly complex
Herbicide tolerant crops designed for specific herbicides allow little room for mistakes
RIDGETOWN, Ont. — Herbicide tolerant corn and soybean options provide farmers with a weed control advantage, but caution is warranted. A July 8 Crop Diagnostic Day in Ridgetown, was told that crops can also be set back or killed and problem weeds left unaffected if the inappropriate chemistry is applied. The problem may grow as […] Read moreSaving water not an issue on wet fields this year
RIDGETOWN, Ont. — This year’s cool, damp weather in Ontario provided an ironic backdrop for the water-use efficiency presentation that took place July 8 during Diagnostic Days. Farmers from across the province’s growing areas spoke at the event about sodden fields, especially those from Essex County in southwestern Ontario. Farmers in that region had worked […] Read more
Mennonites form important rural backbone
While many come to work during harvest, some Low German Mennonites are starting to make Ontario their permanent home
LEAMINGTON, Ont. — Low German-speaking Mennonites have become an integral and vital part of southwestern Ontario, but also remain, in many respects, a people apart. Perhaps 25 percent of the 40,000 in the region are migratory, moving north for agricultural work in spring and then back to their homes in Latin America following the harvest. […] Read moreOntario farmers likely to plant more winter wheat
Most of Ontario’s soybeans went into the ground in a timely fashion this spring, despite a late spring frost. It’s good news for winter wheat. “The odds are, you’re going to have a wider window to plant more winter wheat this fall,” said Dale Cowan, a senior agronomist with Agris Co-operative. “With wheat you have […] Read more
Neonics seen as possible threat to butterflies
DRESDEN, Ont. — The monarch butterfly recently joined a growing list of non-target insects that may be affected by neonicotinoid seed treatments. “Our study was intended to point out that they are potentially a contributor to the decline of the monarch and that more work needs to be done,” said Jonathon Lundgren, a scientist with […] Read more
U.S. insecticide plan lacking, say beekeepers
DRESDEN, Ont. — Beekeepers in the United States and Ontario face similar challenges from neonicotinoid insecticides, according to the president of the American Beekeeping Federation. They’re a major concern, perhaps the top concern, in both jurisdictions, Tim Tucker said. The difference is in how his organization and the Ontario Beekeepers Association have responded to the […] Read more
Researchers want to reduce colony losses even further
While some beekeepers reported losses of less than 25 percent, others experienced 75 percent mortality
DRESDEN, Ont. — Over-wintering colony losses are down in Ontario and the United States, but concern for honeybee health continues. A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture survey found that the yearly loss from April 2014 to April 2015 rose to an unsustainable 42 percent and last year, summer colony losses of 27.4 percent were higher […] Read moreNo farm financial crisis on horizon: economist
FCC official expects crop prices to remain steady but advises producers to lock in long-term borrowing rates
GUELPH, Ont. — Predictions of doom and gloom in the agricultural sector made a few months ago were most likely overblown, according to Farm Credit Canada’s Chief Agricultural Economist. A more likely scenario for 2015 is a “soft landing,” Jean-Philippe Gervais said. Neither is it likely that farmland prices will plummet, though softening in some […] Read more
