On the mind of a young Farmer

Yes the Canadian census confirms I am a young farmer and by a long shot. I have been reading some of the stats to learn that the average age of a farmer in Ontario is up to 54 yrs. I have almost 2 decades to go through before I get there. Thinking back on how much I have seen farming change over the years so far, i get the feeling I am in for a shock before I make the "average" age. Thats all good, its exciting times.

I as other farmers around here, well if you take twitter as the representative, can only think about rain at the moment. Mostly because I haven't seen any real accumulation since last month. Its getting dry, but the crop on the plowed ground are holding out fine, That on been stubble, like all my corn, is showing some stress. I get the feeling that using anhydrous ammonia has been showing some added benefit over the local fields sidedressed with 28 or 32%, but that could just be my desire to see good things.

The wheat crop is turning colour and the combine should be rolling in a couple of weeks. Although starting last December to get my new (very used) combine in order, i still have a few parts to bolt on before its field ready. And then that R52 is going to be put to the test. As will my wife who is concerned about keeping up with unloading the wagons. With only 40 acres to harvest, I am planning on 2 days of 20 acres, so I won't even take time off work to get this done. And if harvest falls on a weekend, well it won't even be a long days work. I guess i am getting a bit spoilt, provided everything works and I avoid any major breakdowns.

Lately I have been enjoying some good prices on old crops. I have been hauling in a few wagon loads of the partial truck load grain from the bottom of the bin. It makes for a nice surprise to find an extra 100 bushels of wheat when the price is on an upswing. Next week I get to move a couple wagons of soy, which I best get done before wheat harvest starts, I need the bin.

Our meat chickens have grown to the point of slaughter time, but having lost a few to foxes, its just not worth the cost to transport to the nearest slaughter house for processing. By the time I pay the fuel and the butcher I would need to charge over $3 a pound to cover the costs and then there is all the corn and wheat and starter feed they ate. I need to cut my losses, these birds will end up in my own freezer.

Its unfortunate I need to travel 80km to the nearest butcher. The local place only does beef and pork, the regulations are too complex and expensive for them to take on fowl. There are consequences to government regulation, and although i understand the desire to ensure a safe food supply, they also eliminate a good food supply. I could see a lot more small free range chickens go to market if there were exceptions for small facilities rather than pointless regulation. I mean seriously, the width of the front door is on the inspection list, and its not a standard width. I am sure that is what the big industry has lobbied for to knock out the small players, and it worked.

Well I got enough rain to put put a puddle in the driveway while typing this, don't expect it will last long, but should get to enjoy the sweat smell of growing corn in the morning.

Comment

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

Join Ontario Agriculture

Welcome to
Ontario Agriculture

Sign Up
or Sign In

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

GIFS at USask is striving to be the world’s preferred partner for agriculture and food innovation

At the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask), ambition meets action. Across our diverse operations, our team has developed unique capabilities to support impactful research and development. From genomics to biomanufacturing to data analytics and more, our strengths place us among a select group of global institutions equipped to drive innovation at scale. Today, we are the only organization in Canada with the expertise, capabilities, and unique model to enable partnerships with both public- and private-sector organizations from discovery through to delivery, accelerating innovation at every stage. Based in Saskatchewan — the heart of Western Canada and the largest producer of field crops in Canada — we’re strategically positioned to collaborate with global partners and deliver scalable, impactful solutions. “Our ambition is to be the preferred partner for ag and food innovation — not just here, but globally — and we are global. We’re b

Crop Report for the Period October 7 to October 13, 2025

Producers made solid harvest progress on remaining crop acres and got plenty of other field work done last week, before rain and snowfall on the weekend halted operations in many areas. Producers are hoping to get back in the field prior to winter to harvest the few remaining crop acres and finish field work. Provincially, harvest is 98 per cent complete. Most crop is off in the west-central and northeast regions as progress sits at 99 per cent, followed by the southeast and northwest at 98 per cent and the southwest and east-central at 97 per cent. Although most producers have finished harvest, some have a small amount of oilseed, chickpea and canary seed crops remaining in the field. For oilseed crops, canola is 98 per cent harvested, mustard is 95 per cent, flax is 87 per cent and soybeans are 83 per cent harvested. For the other small acreage crops, canary seed is 92 per cent harvested and chickpeas are 88 per cent harvested. All other pulse, spring cereal and winter cereal cro

Grain deliveries by Canada's two major railways strong in Week 10: Ag Transport Coalition

Week 10 saw system performance improve slightly for a fifth consecutive week with CN and CPKC Rail combined supplying 93% of hopper cars ordered, an improvement from the 92% order fulfillment performance seen in week 9. System performance remains above the 90% threshold for the second consecutive week. That's according to the Ag Transport Coalition. In supplying 96% of cars ordered by shippers in week 10, CN saw performance improve from the 92% order fulfillment performance in week 9. CN performance has now been above the 90% threshold for two straight weeks having improved performance for five straight weeks. CPKC saw performance decline slightly, with the railway supplying 91% of cars ordered by shippers, down slightly from the 93% order fulfillment performance seen in week 9. CPKC remains above the 90% performance threshold for a second straight week.

Wheat and canola ending stocks unchanged over past month: AAFC

Updated supply/demand estimates from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, released Oct. 17, included only minor adjustments to the balance sheets for the country’s major grains and oilseeds. Projected 2025/26 ending stocks for wheat and canola were left unchanged from the September report, at 5.2 million and 2.5 million tonnes respectively. That would compare with wheat ending stocks in 2024/25 of 4.112 million and canola carryout of 1.597 million tonnes. The projected usage numbers for canola were left unchanged, with exports forecast at 7 million tonnes and domestic usage at 12.226 million tonnes. If realized, exports would be down by 25 per cent from 2024/25, while domestic usage would increase by 4.8 per cent. Projected wheat exports were raised to 27.4 million tonnes, from 27 million in September. However, that would still be down by 6.2 per cent from 2024/25. Wheat domestic usage was down by 400,000 tonnes from September, at 8.241 million tonnes. That compares with 7.96

Alberta harvest all but complete: crop report

Alberta’s crop harvest is virtually complete, but crop quality is a concern as the growing season comes to a close. The province’s agriculture department reported 99.4 per cent of Alberta’s major crops were combined as of Oct. 14, 3.1 points more than in the previous week, compared to the five-year average of 97 per cent and the 10-year average of 83 per cent. The northwest region’s harvest was 100 per cent complete, while the central region was at 98.9 per cent. All other regions were within one point of finishing operations. The harvests for all major crops were either completion or less than a point away from completion, except for canola at 98.5 per cent. Despite recent rain and snowfall in some areas, the added moisture wasn’t enough to improve fall-seeded crop quality province-wide.

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service