Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

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 holding moisture very well.  I had to work the ground shallow to avoid mud, fortunately the beans sprouted before the wind dried out that top inch - and grow they have. 

As with any rush, things go wrong.  My most anoying failure was the left marker on my grain drill - it kept slipping wider.  This makes it frustrating, while trying to set up the marker and finding it keeps needing adjusting.  The first thoughts are that i am just not following properly, but only in one direction.  With no cab, dry ground on top and a wind in line with the rows, I couldn't always see my mark so it took 40 acres before i figured out what was going on.  Then, of course, that fine thread odd size u-bolt breaks.  Well, no one to blame but myself, it was a replacement part with a made in China tag.  With a little ingenuity and making use of a steering wheel puller, I fabbed up a sollution in the field, which lasted until I was done.  Now I must not forget to go back and fix this properly before I use the drill next, this fall for wheat. 

Had a few misjudgements on how much seed I was planting.  Thats the down side for buying bulk seed when you don't own a scale.  I can only eyeball what is in the wagon and when your off by 7 units of small seed after 50 acres its not a gross error, but you need a good suppliers to get you the seed on a Saturday afternoon of a long weekend so planting can continue. 

I enjoyed being on the tractor watching the sun rise and set nearly every day for a week.  I didn't mind getting that great farmer tan (or burn) on my arms from not using sun block.  The dust following me up and down the field carried with it that sweat smell of soil when it is fit.  The truth is, as much as I wanted to sleep in on a couple of mornings, I would really like to have a few more acres so i could keep doing it. 

However the end of planting is no time to take a break.  I now have weeds to control, fields to scout and even a main tile to fix.  Its amazing how giant holes in the ground only show up when you are facing backwards.  Then there is all the work i put off while planting.  I still have to get the unload auger on my corn bin working, now that trucks will be rolling up next to week to be filled.  And my grain header for the combine isn't done and wheat harvest is maybe 6 weeks out.

While putting equipment away I usually use the small MF265, but as it was hooked up to the sprayer and I had to put my packers away, which are sectional and only one at a time can be backed up I created quite a scene.  It looked so funny to see a 125Hp tractor on a 5ft packer I couldn't resist to snap a picture.  Sometimes the craziest things are just necessary.

Not everyone in the area is having the same level of success.  My neighbour has been plagued with much more sever breakdowns and on ground that not having been plowed in recent memory is as hard as rock and it is drying out quickly.  Although offering my equipment to help him out, as I am sure I would, he turned down the offer and is trying to do it all with his own.  Its still early enough to get a good yeilding bean in the ground.  But I would really like to see all those other fields turning green soon as well. 

The pace has slowed a bit, I am not using lights to keep working these days.  Once the sun is down, I clean up and wait for the next day.  But I, along with the roosters in the yard, still enjoy being at work on the farm when the sun rises.  Just don't get much done before I have to head off to the day job - but I guess that is what weekends are for, getting to work all day on the farm!

Views: 147

Comment

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

Join Ontario Agriculture

Comment by Joe Dales on May 28, 2012 at 1:01am

Nice job getting the crops in Gus.

Be safe and good luck.

Joe

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

Above Average Yields for Saskatchewan

Crops were above average this year in Saskatchewan, with yields topping the 10-year provincial average and beating the Statistics Canada model-based estimates released in September.  The province released its latest yield estimates in its final crop report for the 2025 growing season on Thursday.  The average oat and barley yields were pegged by the province at 94.4 and 70 bu/acre, respectively, compared to the StatsCan estimates of 90.2  and 67.9 bu/acre. The province pegged the average Hard Spring wheat yield at 51.5 bu/acre, and other spring wheat at 55.5 bu/acre, versus StatsCan’s single spring wheat estimate of 49.2 bu. The average provincial durum yield of 39.4 bu/acre was 2.5 bu above the StatsCan estimate.  At 42.4 bu/acre, the average Saskatchewan canola yield was 1.8 bu higher than StatsCan, while soybeans were a hefty 14.8 bu above at 39.6 bu. The average flax yield was pegged at 26.6 bu/acre, above StatsCan’s 23.1 bu.  Peas were reported by the province at 40.8 bu/acre,

Breaking the silence: Understanding stigma in farming and mental health

The narrative in agriculture is evolving. Caring for the land, animals, and equipment has always come first; now farmer well-being belongs on that list. For centuries, the culture in agriculture has valued resilience, self-reliance, and hard work. These are important qualities that have built our farms and fed our world. Yet these same values have, unintentionally, helped create one of the biggest barriers to farmer mental health: stigma. Stigma shows up as silence, hesitation, fear and shame, making farmers feel they must carry their struggles alone rather than reach out for support. Decades in the making The roots of those feelings – fear and shame towards mental health in agriculture stretch back decades, woven into the history of rural life. Farmers have been expected to endure hardship quietly, whether it was a drought, market crash, or a barn fire. Generations grew up hearing phrases like “tough it out” or “pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” Asking for help, especially for

Filiz Koksel, associate professor, University of Manitoba

Filiz Koksel is an associate professor in the Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences (FHNS) at the University of Manitoba (UM). She was appointed Manitoba Strategic Research Chair in Sustainable Protein in July this year. Born in Winnipeg while her father was completing graduate studies at UM, Koksel grew up in Turkey, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in food engineering from Middle East Technical University in Ankara. She later returned to Winnipeg to complete her PhD in food science at UM and joined the Department of FHNS as a faculty member in 2017. She lives in Winnipeg with her husband and their five-year-old daughter. Tell us a bit about what you’re working on at UM. My research focuses on food processing, transforming ingredients, both plant- and animal-based, into nutritious, appealing foods. These processes range from mixing or milling for bakery applications, to extrusion cooking, which is a process used for making puffed snacks like Cheeto

Canadian Beef Producers Request Termination of the Canada-UK Continuity Agreement

The Canadian Cattle Association (CCA) calls for the Government of Canada to initiate the termination of the Canada-UK Continuity Agreement, following the tabling of the UK Accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) legislation. In July 2023, the Government of Canada announced the accession of the UK to the CPTPP agreement. CCA, our provincial members, and beef producers across the country urged Canada to “say no to a bad deal”. Since then, the UK has not made any effort to address the non-tariff barriers that are keeping Canadian beef out of the UK market. At the same time, UK beef imports into the Canadian market have increased from $16.6 million in 2023 to $42.5 million in 2024. “We are calling on all Parliamentarians to stand up for Canadian beef producers,” said Tyler Fulton, President of CCA. “In these uncertain geopolitical times, we need every opportunity to diversify our markets.” Given the Government’s recent tabling of th

Jaclyn Prystupa powers precision automation at GIFS at USask

Jaclyn Prystupa is an Automation Specialist at the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask). It’s a dynamic role in which she leads the development, optimization, and troubleshooting of automated workflows and laboratory equipment within GIFS’ Omics and Precision Analytics Laboratory (OPAL). Put more simply, she works with robots to expand the capabilities and throughput of GIFS’ genomics offerings. Every day, she programs, operates, and maintains a growing number of automated liquid handlers, each one capable of executing complex laboratory tasks with speed and precision. This work is central to OPAL — a PacBio Certified Service Provider and one of Canada’s largest sequencing and genotyping facilities. There, Prystupa combines genomics and computer science to accomplish big things in small timeframes. How big is big? Think thousands of plant, animal, and microbial samples. By leveraging automation, these samples are efficiently prepared,

© 2025   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service