Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Paul Smith's Blog (16)

Learn From The Cash Crop Farmers – Yield Monitors are a High Return on Investment for Veggies

Carrot/Onion/Potato and Sugar Beet growers can learn from their cash crop growing neighbours and gain the knowledge they have been seeing for years.

Yield monitors have long been only available for conventional cash crop growers, until now.  Innovative technology from Northern Equipment Solutions supplier Greentronics, now allows veggie growers to monitor/map and obtain vital yield data.

Growers can now visualize and gain the knowledge about problem areas, and about high…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on July 2, 2013 at 4:11pm — No Comments

Weed Control Solutions Explained - Advantages & Dis-Advantages

The recent trend toward restricting herbicide use has produced interest in alternative and integrated weed control strategies that include cultivation. As a result, newly developed implements are now available to vegetable growers from Northern Equipment Solutions, but the potential uses of these tools for numerous vegetable crops can be confusing. This describes some of these tools and their advantages and disadvantages.

 

Flex-tine harrows

Flex-tine harrows are…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on April 3, 2013 at 2:30pm — No Comments

Leading Technology Will Increase Your Yield and Decrease Your Labor Costs

Transplanting has long been re­served for leafy crops, tomatoes, and bare root onions. Automated planting technology now provides a cost ef­fective way to transplant produce from plugs grown in greenhouses for up to 30 percent increased yields and up to 50 percent lower labor costs.

 

Benefits of automated…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on April 3, 2013 at 7:31am — No Comments

What are the benefits of a automatic sprayer boom height control system

With 4 major manufacturers the automatic sprayer boom height control system, can provide you with a more uniform/effective application of your inputs, increase your productivity and remove the stresses of spraying.  High quality systems are available from Greentronics, Norac, Trimble and Raven.  Information is available at www.northernequipment.ca regarding Greentronics Riteheight, Norac and Trimble boom height…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on February 6, 2013 at 1:48pm — 1 Comment

Benefits of Tile Drainage

With an accurately designed and installed tile drainage system, you can bring your crop management to a whole new level. Improve yields, improve your soil, and improve the environment around you. It's a good deal for everyone.  You can hire in a professional, or you can do it yourself with great benefits.

Benefits of Tile Drainage

Installing tile drains on your farm will bring you numerous benefits.

Better Yields.

Tile drainage has been proven over…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on January 9, 2013 at 2:30am — No Comments

Implement steering keeps pulled implements on the right track

                       

It's all very well setting up virtual guidelines for a tractor's visual guidance or automatic steering system to follow, but what if the implement being used doesn't run true?

After all, a large part of the justification for GPS autosteer is its ability to maximise implement output by minimising overlaps and allowing…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on January 4, 2013 at 6:46pm — No Comments

How to Maximize Potato Planting Stands and Yields

Numerous studies have shown that an average potato field, contains 7% missing or misplaced seed placement causing a total loose of production.  These errors are more commonly referred to as misses and doubles.  This is just the in-row misplacements of skips and doubles, not the row to row errors that are present within the fields from guess row areas.  Guess rows can be corrected easily with the addition of assisted GPS steering systems.

What does this mean to you, would you be…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on January 3, 2013 at 5:24pm — No Comments

Camera’s and their uses around the farm

With the ever rising costs of equipment, inputs and pretty much everything on the farm, protecting your investment is becoming very critical.  Stolen tractors, implements, tools and anything else a thief can sell quickly, or overseas, is becoming common place in our rural communities.  Cameras are an excellent deterrent to stop would be thieves from violating your business and life.  With many farmers living at their place of business, thefts can feel violating to your entire…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on December 28, 2012 at 3:30am — No Comments

Forgotten Points Of Vegetable Harvest Efficiency

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…
Continue

Added by Paul Smith on December 21, 2012 at 1:30am — No Comments

GPS Corrections and Their General Uses

After many years of precision agricultural use, many questions still exist of what is the correct correction for each operation.  I have listed the corrections available and a brief description of their uses.

Wide Area Augmentation Signal (WAAS) –

Accuracy: < 6-8”

Initialization/Convergence: Standard*

This free service provides performance suitable for agriculture applications in which accuracy and repeatability are not of the highest…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on December 19, 2012 at 5:30am — 3 Comments

Camera’s and their uses around the farm

With the ever rising costs of equipment, inputs and pretty much everything on the farm, protecting your investment is becoming very critical.  Stolen tractors, implements, tools and anything else a thief can sell quickly, or overseas, is becoming common place in our rural communities.  Cameras are an excellent deterrent to stop would be thieves from violating your business and life.  With many farmers living at their place of business, thefts can feel violating to your entire…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on December 19, 2012 at 2:30am — 4 Comments

High Quality Soil Is The Beginning To High Quality Crops

Imagine harvesting a bumper crop, in perfect loose soil with no trash, clods or rocks.  Many would say that this will never be possible here in North America.  Northern Equipment Solutions is now offering the equipment and knowledge needed to take advantage of this tried and proven technology from Europe.  Improved shape, quality, size uniformity and yield are all now possible.

Many Farms within Europe have seen the benefits of soil conditioning and quad planting, with its…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on December 17, 2012 at 2:46pm — No Comments

Tips To Lowering Bruise Rates – It’s A Full Season Process

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…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on December 17, 2012 at 3:00am — 15 Comments

Variable Rate Technology – What Is It, Can I Do It?

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…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on December 14, 2012 at 2:00am — No Comments

The Future of Agricultural Technology, Today

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…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on December 12, 2012 at 3:00am — No Comments

How To Choose A Precision Ag Dealer or Brand- And The Misconceptions Involved in Your Purchasing Decision

As a precision GPS specialist, I am amazed when my initial conversation with a new customer starts with a few common comments about precision GPS systems and the brands that represent them. My return to all of these comments is the exact same statement, but I have decided to list what someone with years of precision knowledge has to say about these mis-conceptions and not the canned my product is better that many…

Continue

Added by Paul Smith on December 7, 2012 at 9:15pm — No Comments

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

Crop research a better long-term solution than BRM programs: USask Professor

Agricultural research requires investment, but it takes many years to develop a higher yielding crop variety or one with improved disease resistance. Recently announced funding and job cuts by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada are expected to impact the quantity and possibly the quality of new research in both the crop and livestock sectors. Richard Gray is a professor and grains policy chair at the University of Saskatchewan and was a key note speaker Thursday at the Top Crop Summit in Saskatoon. "I think the lack of a plan to how they were actually going to do some of the activities that were happening on those farms, that's a problem, and second, I don't think there was enough thought given to whether the sites that they were closing down were important for overall productivity of the researchers that remain." Gray said of the pending closures of research sites across Canada. The Indian Head research site represented about 35 per cent of the crop area in the province and was loca

Malta bee exporter blasts criticism from Canadian beekeepers

A European honeybee provider said they’re collateral damage to a dust-up in the Canadian honey sector over replacement bees. Ermanno De Chino, CEO of Melita Bees, a firm based on the Mediterranean island of Malta, said Italian and Maltese bee biosecurity and quality are the subject of unwarranted “smears” coming from a Canadian beekeeping contingent. He said they’re “pushing for the opening of the border with the United States,” a country he said is extremely vulnerable to the tropilaelaps (tropi) mite threat. “There’s little science and a lot of politics in all of this,” he wrote in a Feb. 10 email. In a separate email, De Chino described the risk of tropilaelaps entering the U.S. as “very high” due to the “enormous” number of cargo ships from Asia arriving at the ports of California, Texas, and Florida: three states with tropi mite-friendly weather conditions. “Swarms of Asian bees arriving in containers would have an easy time establishing themselves in these areas. The enormous

LDC commissions pea protein isolate production facility in Yorkton

Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) has announced the start of commissioning for its new pea protein isolate (PPI) production facility in Yorkton. Alongside pea protein, LDC will also commercialize pea fiber and a proprietary pea starch produced at the new Yorkton facility, for the pet food, building materials and paper industries. Strategically located in one of the world’s largest pea-producing regions, at the site of LDC’s existing oilseeds processing complex, the new pea protein isolate plant is expected to employ some 60 people by the end of 2026, states a news release issued by LDC. The facility is currently in its commissioning phase, covering both wet and dry processing, which will be completed over the next couple of months, with commercial volumes expected to be available by mid-June, says LDC. The site will be among the largest pea processing facilities in North America, serving key segments of the plant-based market, including high-protein beverages and powder mixes, dairy alter

Groups call for mandatory labeling of genetically engineered pork products

No laws in Canada mandate specific labels for genetically engineered foods

Reinforcing Market Support at IAOM Latin America Conference

Engaging, learning, and networking were top of mind for attendees at the International Association of Operative Millers’ (IAOM) 49th Latin American Region Annual Conference and Expo, held in February in Guadalajara, Mexico. Lisa Nemeth, Cereals Canada director of market support and training, was among the presenters at the event, which attracted over 280 milling professionals from twenty-five countries. Nemeth presented on the quality of Canadian cereals, the Canadian quality assurance system, and the market support that Cereals Canada delivers to its customers. Nemeth shared that customers were happy to see Canadian cereals represented at the conference. On average, Canada exports 5.9 million tonnes of non-durum wheat to Latin America per year. Over the last five years, the largest markets in the region for Canadian cereals were Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico. “Latin America loves Canadian cereals,” said Nemeth. “Mexico is an important market for Canada Western Red Spring (CWR

© 2026   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service