Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Opening of the 2015 Precision Agriculture Conference

Opening comments and introduction of Thursday night speakers at the Precision Agriculture Conference in London, Ontario. Keynote speaker Dave Scott with GEOSYS on satellite imagery and tools for your farm including their new Crop Health Monitor.

Rating:
  • Currently 5/5 stars.

Views: 117

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Comment by OntAG Admin on February 27, 2015 at 6:29am

The conference’s opening panel consisted of Steve Redmond, David Scott, and Steve Denys.

Steve Redmond, a precision ag specialist with Hensall District Co-operative started off the panel presentation by discussing five things farmers learned in 2014.

1.    Precision ag is spatial management – Every field is different so there’s no need to try and average the results for an entire field to see if it works on your farm.
2.    Farmers need to build a precision ag team – The team should consist of people steeped in agronomy so the farmer is receiving the best guidance when they ask for it.
3.    NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) maps are useful – Sensors like GreenSeeker map crop vegetation and are highly correlated to final yields
4.    Plants do not lie – Yield monitors can have errors due to various factors, but getting dirty and looking at the plants will tell you the truth about what’s actually going on.
5.    Do not give up on yield monitors – Processing is becoming more automatic and everything is relevant so farmers need their yield monitors and data to validate what they’re doing.

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Minister MacDonald concludes successful outreach to southern Alberta

This week, the Honourable Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, wrapped up a successful outreach to Calgary and communities across southern Alberta. To begin his outreach, Minister MacDonald announced an investment of nearly $900,000 for SmartGRO Bioengineering Inc. under the Agricultural Clean Technology (ACT) Program – Research and Innovation Stream. In partnership with Hydragreens vertical farm, this funding enables SmartGRO to test and scale new clean lighting technology that helps indoor agriculture producers grow more while using less electricity. In addition to the $750 million investment dedicated to controlled environment agriculture, through the National Food Security Strategy, innovations like these boost the sector by lowering costs and helping local producers grow more of our food year-round, closer to home. While in Bow Island, Minister MacDonald visited a multi-generational farm to discuss pulse and sugar beet operations. In Barnwell, he saw the prod

FCC invites expressions of interest in new Agri-food Project Finance initiative

Farm Credit Canada (FCC) today launched a 60-day Expression of Interest (EOI) process for its new $1 billion Agri-food Project Finance initiative. Organizations are invited to bring forward major agri-food processing and manufacturing projects across Canada in support of a stronger, more resilient and affordable food system for all Canadians. As part of the Government of Canada's National Food Security Strategy, the specialized financing is designed to advance construction-ready, infrastructure projects that expand food processing and manufacturing capacity across Canada. By expanding food processing here at home, Agri-food Project Finance aims to create more value-added Canadian agricultural products, strengthen domestic supply chains and improve long-term food security. "Our government is focused on strengthening Canada's food system so Canadians can count on a reliable supply of high-quality, affordable food," said Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Heath MacDonald. "This new

Canadian beef regains access to the Dominican Republic

JBS Food and Cargill in Alberta, and True North Foods in Manitoba, are approved to export to the Dominican Republic

Atlantic ag rundown

A collection of goings on in agriculture east of Ontario and Quebec

U.S. Corn Harvest Reaches 8%, Soybean Harvest 6% Complete

The U.S. corn harvest made modest progress this past week, while soybean harvest got underway. USDA’s weekly crop progress report on Monday showed 8% of the U.S. corn crop had been harvested as of Sunday, up from 5% a week earlier and ahead of the five-year average of 6%. Meanwhile, the national soybean harvest was 6% complete, twice the five-year average of 3% and slightly ahead of 5% at the same point last year. Illinois had harvested 8% of its corn crop as of Sunday, while Iowa and Indiana were each 2% complete. North Dakota was 1% harvested, while Michigan and Ohio had yet to register measurable progress. For soybeans, Illinois had harvested 4% of its soybean crop, while Iowa, Indiana, Ohio and North Dakota were each 3% complete. Michigan had yet to report measurable harvest progress. Corn development also moved quickly during the week. Nationally, 42% of the crop had reached maturity, up sharply from 25% a week earlier and ahead of the five-year average of 38%. Illinois

© 2026   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service