Do you know a “real” wheat farmer? If not, agronomist Peter Johnson is going to introduce you to some of Ontario’s finest wheat growers in the upcoming episodes of Real Agriculture’s Wheat School. In this episode, Wheat Pete travels to Ripley, Ontario to talk with Brucelea Poultry’s Mark McLean. He takes wheat seriously and shares… Read More
Author: Bernard Tobin
Bernard Tobin is RealAgriculture's Ontario Field Editor. A Ryerson University journalism grad, @AgBern was raised on a dairy farm near St. John's, Newfoundland. For more than two decades, he has specialized in agricultural communications, working for numerous farm media outlets, communications agencies and ag consulting companies. He is based in Georgetown, Ontario.
The role of farm input salespeople has changed remarkably as farming has evolved. No longer are dealers and sales reps just order takers talking features and benefits to find the most appealing fit for farmer customers. Today, the farm dealer is an order maker who uses a combination of business knowledge and key insights to… Read More
RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson stirred up a hornet’s nest earlier this year when he suggested Ontario cash croppers grow shorter-season soybeans so they can plant winter wheat earlier to optimize cereal yield. In this episode of Soybean School, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ soybean specialist Horst Bohner weighs in on the debate…. Read More
Ontario dairy farmers had their first opportunity to plant low-lignin alfalfa in 2016. In this episode of the Real Agriculture Dairy School we visit with Elmira, Ontario, dairy farmer Dale Martin and PRIDE Seeds market agronomist Aaron Stevanus to get the lowdown on low-lignin alfalfa. Martin harvested his first crop HarvXtra low-lignin alfalfa with Roundup Ready… Read More
Growing soybeans in Ontario in 2016 was a real nail biter. Even Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs soybean specialist Horst Bohner admits to being pretty nervous as the soybean crop struggled through a dry July. Many farmers were lucky when rains arrived in August, but a good portion of the province –… Read More
Where are the vents located on your grain bins? If they’re too low, you could comprise grain quality by creating a pool of hot, moist, dead air at the top of the bin that can rain on your grain. You can learn how to avoid this problem and properly place vents when you check out… Read More
Glen Murray is not the favourite son of Ontario’s farming industry. The Ontario Minister of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) has made few friends in the Ontario farm sector with his push to restrict use of neonicotinoid seed treatments, dismiss sound science, and impose the will of his urban-dominated government on the province’s farmers. That’s the… Read More
New Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) president Keith Currie is anxious to bring the Ontario agriculture industry together and rebuild trust in the OFA. The general farm organization’s leadership has come under fire from farmers and other provincial commodity groups in recent years for playing too nice with the Ontario government. “There’s some fracturing that’s… Read More
Changes to the 2017 Farmland Health Incentive Program (FHIP) will create an even greater focus on managing water quality in the western and central Lake Erie basin. For the past two years, FHIP, part of the Great Lakes Agricultural Stewardship Initiative (GLASI), has focused on supporting and funding Ontario farmer stewardship efforts in an area… Read More
Legions of hockey fans know him as the rough-and-tumble winger who carried the hopes and dreams of Toronto Maple Leafs fans for a decade. Wendel Clark is also the author of a new book – Bleeding Blue: Giving My All For The Game. And he’ll be our guest on the next edition of the RealAg… Read More
How much yield can you expect from double-cropped soybeans? In 2016, harvested yields from across Ontario have ranged from 25 to 45 bushels per acre. In the final episode of our Soybean School series on double cropping, Real Agriculture agronomist Peter Johnson and Syngenta agronomist Eric Richter return to Embro, Ontario, farmer Ian Matheson’s field… Read More
Dairy milking robots have found their niche in Canada, but where do they fit on U.S. dairy farms? The popularity of robots in Canada can be linked to the fact that the technology fits well into this country’s smaller farms and because our supply management system provides a financial footing for farmers to invest. But… Read More
Everything old is new again. That’s certainly the case when it comes to interseeding cover crops into corn. In this episode of Real Agriculture’s Corn School, University of Guelph-Ridgetown College researcher David Hooker unearths some historic evidence of Ontario farmers’ and researchers’ fascination with cover crops and their efforts to interseed them in growing cornfields…. Read More
Dairy farmers across North America are facing a labour crunch. Finding labourers willing to work in agriculture is nothing new. For years, many labour-intensive sectors of agriculture have relied on migrant workers seeking work that average Americans and Canadians are no longer willing to do. But this phenomenon is relatively new in the dairy sector… Read More
It wasn’t so long ago that U.S. magazines and television were littered with milk moustache advertising touting the benefits of drinking milk poured from those handy gallon jugs. But the days of generic advertising for the commodity have now been replaced by a combination of partnerships, innovation, and building public trust, explains Tom Gallagher, CEO… Read More