Recently, the federal government released “emergency” rules regarding recreational use of drones (UAVs), significantly restricting where and when drones could be used. Citing a 200% increase in commercial flight incidents with drones in just two years, the transport minister says the new rules begin immediately, with fines of up to $3,000 for violations. Commercial drone pilots already… Read More

Kemptville College’s agriculture programming hasn’t been gone all that long, but already agriculture, farm, and equine businesses within the Ottawa Valley and surrounding areas are feeling the absence. Mark Nelson, with the Ontario Equestrian Federation, says that within the equine community alone they’ve already noticed a lack of candidates to fill trainee and employee roles, as… Read More

What happens when a supplier and a processor can’t agree to a contract? In some cases, the parties walk away from the deal. In others, such as is usually the case between Ontario’s processing-vegetable growers and processors, there’s a set out and agreed upon mediation process. If that doesn’t result in a deal, the parties… Read More

Change is good. Change is the only constant. Be the change you want to see in the world. There’s no shortage of sayings that reference change. Michael Barrett, president and CEO of Gay Lea Foods, prefers, though, to use imagery when discussing change and being ready for it. In his words, there are lines in the sand,… Read More

If you’ve got cows, you likely do something like this: number of cows x days on feed = tonnes of hay/forage needed. But what if you’ve got land, but no livestock, and want to include perennial forage in rotation? Have you ever sat down and done this: number of acres x tonnes of feed produced… Read More

How easily could your farm business absorb an added $120,000 bill? That’s approximately what Jan Vanderhout, co-owner of Beverly Greenhouses, says the new Ontario carbon tax will cost him this year, or just over $6,000 per acre of greenhouse space. Vanderhout, a third-generation greenhouse grower and the chair of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’… Read More

Recent positive rabies cases on a few farms in Ontario’s Perth County are a stark reminder of this ever-present, reportable disease in livestock. While livestock cases of rabies are rare, it’s safe to assume the virus circulates in wildlife nearly constantly, albeit at a low level. Exposed livestock, likely from a bite, tend to exhibit… Read More

Have you seen the Dairy Farmers of Canada newest ad? (Scroll down to view) The latest television commercial and billboard campaign has received critical acclaim from advertising big wigs, but at least some of the farmers the ad represents aren’t exactly thrilled with the “crying over spilled milk” commercial calling it “horrifying,” “dark,” and “confusing.”… Read More

There’s a concerning trend in Ontario’s soils: organic matter is being depleted. The decrease may seem small — about 0.8% over 12 years — but organic matter is vital to soil’s water holding capacity, nutrient-cycling ability, and compaction resiliency, to name just a few roles. What’s more, replacing lost soil organic matter is a slow,… Read More

Sitting in the Northern Exposure presentation at the Southwest Agricultural Conference, I watched with fascination as a room full of southern Ontario farmers were captivated by Prairie agriculture. How’s that, you ask? Well, farming in Ontario’s “north” is far more similar to farming in Manitoba than the rest of the growing region of Ontario, and this Prairie… Read More

Clarence Swanton has worked for 16 years on a super cool project that takes about 40 minutes to explain properly, as he did at the recent Southwest Agricultural Conference. Perhaps more impactful, however, is the time-lapse video he showed whereby the mere presence of weedy surroundings actually killed a tobacco seedling. Perhaps this makes sense —… Read More

Manage the crop, not the weather. That was the take-home message delivered via three agronomists at the 2017 Southwest Agricultural Conference. Leanne Freitag, with Cargill, Russ Barker, with Pioneer, and Steph Kowalski, with Agronomy Advantage, teamed up to share nine lessons of the trying 2016 growing season. From the non-negotiable need for sulphur on wheat,… Read More

If you’ve ever been out in early winter and seen grapes on the vine, you likely were looking at future ice wine — a sweet made-in-Ontario dessert beverage (and more!). In this festive-themed interview, Lyndsey Smith asks Bill George, past-president of the Ontario Grape Growers, what makes ice wine special, when the ideal time to… Read More

The Ontario government recently rolled out its Pollinator Health Action Plan, a draft of which had been put forward in January, 2016, and up for discussion. The final product, found here, is remarkably similar, and, as many have commented, it’s a solid, balanced approach to improving honeybee and native pollinator health in the province. The… Read More

The Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crop’s (CRSC) has created an agro-ecosystem working group. The group has created a “vision for sustainability” for Canadian agriculture over the next 10 years. With a commitment to using science as the guiding principal for development of 12 key outcomes for 2026, the seven member organizations of the working group include:… Read More

 

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