The Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame Association has named its five inductees for 2018. Combined, the influence of these five men spans 150 years. This year’s inductees were chosen for the legacy each of their careers has left on the Ontario farm industry. The inductees are: William Harvey Beaty (1916-1994) Born in Halton Region, William Beaty… Read More

When you want to learn about a new farming practice, where do you turn? Yes, there are conferences and field days, but many farmers have also had great success with social media platforms that easily connect farmers over large distances. We also know that some things are better discussed, explained, shared, and questioned in person,… Read More

Lambing is an exciting but exhausting time for sheep farmers. A typical breeding cycle with natural service over two heat cycles usually results in well over two weeks of late nights, early mornings, and intense work. To manage the labour load (pun intended), some farmers have adopted a synchronization and induction program to tighten the… Read More

Ontario’s soils are losing organic matter. What builds organic matter? Perennial and forage species! But if you’re going to plant perennial hay or pasture, you have to have something to feed it to or you won’t be farming long enough to see the value of the added organic matter. And that’s a slight problem, as… Read More

Let’s face it, the Powers That Be can’t win. When it comes to funding agriculture and food projects, we want support to advance agriculture and build capacity at a local level, but we also want to criticize where every penny (nickel?) goes. And when a company or organization that received funding goes broke or packs… Read More

Depending on where you live, fields have likely been frozen now for quite some time. Maybe they’re even snow covered. Now is a great time to spread manure because that firm ground means you can travel and not create compaction, the storage is full, and, well, it’ll work its way into the soil later…right? Well,… Read More

Interested in growing camelina for Three Farmers? Get ready to intercrop. Three Farmers, a Saskatchewan-based snack food company, is offering, for the first time, production contracts for camelina, an oilseed crop. A stipulation of the contract is that camelina be grown in tandem with either pea or lentil. Likely the first-of-its-kind stipulation in a crop… Read More

There’s a reason young and beginning farmers often choose to start a sheep enterprise — local demand for lamb is double what we produce, you can keep quite a few sheep on a limited land base, and they’re affordable livestock that reproduce quickly. There’s also a reason that many new sheep farmers don’t last more… Read More

For as long as we have a supply management system, there will be debates about whether or not we should keep it. The line between for and against is predictable: dairy, egg, chicken, and turkey farmers and those with collective-leaning politics want to keep it, non-supply-managed farmers and free-market thinkers want it gone. Or so… Read More

Precision farming — encompassing field imagery, soil and elevation maps, variable rate crop inputs, guidance and the creation of field management zones — has been, arguably, the technology that has chugged along, rather than taken off. Depending on who you ask, widespread adoption of a full suite of precision agriculture options has been held up by… Read More

When I’m knee-deep (ankle, for most of you) in discussions about challenges in agriculture, I often ask, “What’s the next bee?” I’m used to the funny looks I get, but what I mean, once I clarify, is what is the next issue in agriculture that will be debated and perhaps regulated not necessarily on the… Read More

If there’s one thing expanding farming in Northern Ontario will require, it’s money. Financial backing. Bankrolling. Investment. Whatever name you give it, securing land is only a part of the cost of starting farming — new land must be cleared, cleaned up, and tiled if it’s to be improved to at least a Class 3…. Read More

Last week, I woke in the middle of the night to go north. Well, northwest, then north, then more northwest. It took over nine hours to get to Kapuskasing, a mostly mining and lumber town of about 9,500 people. Kap sits in what’s called the Great Clay Belt of Northern Ontario — approximately 16 million… Read More

If the word “biological” or “bio-stimulant” makes you think of fairy dust and unicorn hair, you’re not alone, but these once-mysterious and poorly-understood products are proving their worth in broadacre, commercial agriculture. For example, large, science-based companies such as Monsanto and Alltech have joined in to the business of biological field crop products that reach… Read More

 

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