All Blog Posts Tagged 'Ontario' (37)

Farmland values in Ontario increased an average of 11.9% in the second half of 2012, following gains of 16.3% and 7.2% in the previous two reporting periods. Farmland values in Ontario have risen for the past 20 years.

Some cash crop producers leveraged their current land holdings to purchase less expensive land in other locations, such as in Northern Ontario, yet the resulting impact on farmland values was relatively modest. The…

Find more photos like this on Ontario…

Find more photos like this on Ontario…

Find more photos like this on Ontario…

The last half of 2012 was busy for me, even took on custom combining to give me an extra reason to run home fast from the factory.  And although the crops turned out good, the markets are favourable, it was still a tough year.  

My appeal (Detail in a prior Blog) to have my farm land taxed at the farm rate came, and the decision made, NO you don't get the farm tax rate, you get to pay…

With harvest finally over for most producers throughout Ontario, many farmers will reflect on how to improve on the results of last year.  These points are often over looked ways to improve harvest efficiency.  I have listed what my experience shows as the most overlooked, but still very important.

• Pre-Season Inspections- Ensure your equipment uptime is maximized, downtime is very costly during the short harvest season.
• Evenflows ensure a constant flow of product for…

Before Planting

• Select fields that are best suited for growing potatoes and are free from excessive rocks.  Investigate the soil conditioning technics presently adopted throughout Europe, if unavoidable.

• Avoid tillage practices that create clods that will not break down during the growing season.  Rotary tillage methods prevent clods in clod prone soils.

During the Growing Season

• Use a balanced fertility program to keep vines green…

Inputs prices are high and so are crop prices. Managing costs and yields is critical to success on your farm. With commodity prices high you cannot settle for average yields. The use of variable rate precision ag products and services helps farmers to do just that. Placing the inputs in the intended prescribed areas has become very popular and makes a tremendous amount of sense for many producers. With the use of satellite imagery, plant health data, soil testing and harvest data, some very…

Veris Technologies has become a name known as the go to tool for advanced soil information.  Offering 3 different sensing systems Veris Technologies can provide information on Soil Type, Organic Matter and PH levels individually or in any combination of the 3.  Here is the 3 types of soil sampling systems available and how you can benefit from knowedge gained.

Soil EC Sensing- Is soil electrical conductivity, a measurement of how much current your soil…

After spending time with another local beekeeper and helping harvest his annual summer honey crop this son of a beekeeper has become even more acutely aware of the various honey regions that are waiting to be discovered by North American kitchens , across the province of Ontario.

One such naturally occurring region is the wild buckwheat fields in northeastern Ontario, above hwy 7 on…

By Nathan Stevens

July 20, 2012

 

In an increasingly competitive and cost-conscious agriculture and agri-business climate, sometimes there are unintended results for other organizations. Today, farmers and food processors are reconsidering the concept of waste and are seeking to turn all their raw materials into marketable or reusable items. The unintended result of this movement is that the Ontario Association of Food Banks is short…

Talk about 'making hay while the sun shines'. Here's a short video I shot on Saturday June 16th 2012 of my nephew Ryan baling hay with his New Holland 658 hay baler. The grass feed is a mixture of alfalfa, red clover and timothy and as such will make excellent feed for the growing numbers of cows on their feedlots.

I can remember harvesting the hay in this field in the 1970s and 80s - we used to walk behind the tractor and wagon and pitch 80 lbs bales onto the wagon…

It is starting out to be an exciting season.  The weather has been cooperating with my work schedule and so far my decisions have resulted in planting success.  The warm weather has brought Soybeans out of the ground after about a week.  Most of my Soys are planted on land that was plowed last year, and this ground is…

Some black bears did launch an attack on of our remote beeyards last week! 

This is what bear damage looks like, and it could have been a lot worse. The total loss was only four frames of brood. And that's because this beeyard, like all of our locations in southern Ontario, is protected by a heavy duty solar fencer.

Its unlikely the hive blew over in the wind - in the…

Wow, does time fly when your busy.  The mild and dry spring has given me plenty of opportunity to take care of a lot of field maintenance issues.  New culverts, fixed tiles, disc/level plowed ground.  I have made use of every minute of sunlight and good use of tractor lights as well.  

The ground has dried out well, allowing field work on what is usually the last to be fit, that plowed ground.  Even spreading urea on the wheat, not a mark in the field.  The moisture is there, just…

Hello from Rob Campbell the original Son of a Beekeeper in Ontario Canada.

I hope to keep a blog presence here on the Ontario Agricultural network to keep readers updated on the latest challenges facing Canadian beekeepers. Because I have the good fortune of living near and helping out my family's…

I'm very excited at the response to the OMAFRA/University of Guelph survey on social media and smartphone use in Ontario agriculture. If you haven't participated, would you take a few minutes this week to answer it?  It can be found at http://www.ipsosresearch.com/omafra/.  We are looking for participation from all parts of Ontario agriculture -- and not just from smartphone or social media users.  If you don't use those…

By John Clement

March 25, 2011

At a recent provincial meeting of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, a guest speaker challenged our members to keep in mind that all public policies are aimed at particular goals and outcomes, based on an understanding of what we value in life. I think it’s an important piece of advice and one that needs to be kept front and centre when we create and debate new laws and regulations for farming.  

In my experience, most…