Ontario Agriculture

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Low crop prices in the Fall

Onion and carrots prices have been reasonably decent this year. Last year, not so good we were getting paid what my husband's parents did in 1978. Currently, carrots are $4.50 to $5.00 for 50#, and onions are $6.00 for 50#. We'll see if carrots' price increase, but not usually in the Fall when everyone is trying to sell their pathways, etc.. Onions' price should remain high since many crops were damaged with hail, downy mildew, smut, and white rot. I need to be reminded why I enjoy this chaos and insecurity called farming!

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Permalink Reply by Wayne Black on September 9, 2009 at 5:42am
You enjoy it because there are a lot of people who live in this Country who would love to be able to live in a Casino.
We gamble every day! Imagine how lucky we are!

Wayne
Permalink Reply by Avia Eek on September 9, 2009 at 4:48pm
Oh, so true! Having worked in a "cushy" office for 11 years, I wouldn't give up the farm life easily. Farmers seem to have a different mindset about things, and then there is the true sense of community, and, of course, the fact that we live in a casino. lol

Wayne Black said:
You enjoy it because there are a lot of people who live in this Country who would love to be able to live in a Casino.
We gamble every day! Imagine how lucky we are!

Wayne
Permalink Reply by Roadrunner on October 1, 2009 at 4:13pm
I was talking to a friend and even the ginseng price has dropped to very low prices....seems the market always gets farmers to overproduce and they pick us off when supply is greater than demand...
Permalink Reply by Avia Eek on October 1, 2009 at 4:30pm
That seems to be true. Right now most of us in the Marsh are taking out pathways in the carrots (not always the nicest looking carrots, because they're generally the bed the tractor and sprayer drive over, so the soil gets moved and changes the formulation of the carrot). You don't want to store those, get rid of them. We also have horticultural producers in south western Ontario whose crops are ready before ours, and in effect, flood the market. So by the time we are able to harvest OUR crop, the price is usually in the toilet already. On the bright side, we know this will happen and can plan for it, sort of.

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