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Farmers with hydro towers lobbying for annual compensation

Believing the time has come for a change, Chatham-Kent farmers, along with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, are lobbying for annual compensation for those with utility towers on their property. Bob Kerr and Bill Parks, who are leading the effort, brought a resolution to the OFA on the matter, which was accepted by the organization at its recent annual general meeting. The resolution stated that while Hydro One pays adequate compensation during initial construction phases, this does not cover the decades after, as landowners “continue to farm around and maintain the towers” into the future. “The annual expense caused by the easement should be considered injurious affection and needs to be compensated annually, for the life of the easement,” it stated. Kerr, who has a farm in Raleigh on Fifth Line, just off of Bloomfield Road, has four new towers, which were completed in the summer. “We can’t grow a crop where a tower is sitting,” he said. “They impair our operations. Our equ

Alltech warns of toxins in silage

Alltech says its testing has revealed a high risk that silage may contain mycotoxins harmful to cattle. For Quebec, 90 per cent of corn silage samples tested positive for zearalenone (ZEA), with levels reaching as high as 1,369 parts per billion and deoxynivalenol (DON) was found in 68 per cent of samples. T-2 and HT-2 toxins were less prevalent, found in 25 per cent of samples, but still pose a concern for livestock producers, Alltech said in a news release. In Ontario, 63 per cent of wheat samples contained DON, while 45 per cent showed the presence of ZEA. Grain corn samples also showed DON contamination, with a maximum level surpassing four parts per million. That poses the greatest risk to swine and younger animals, Alltech said. “Canada has experienced a change in weather patterns from last year, particularly of note the greater rainfall across the Prairies,” said Alexandra Weaver, global technical support for Alltech, in the press release. “As a result, there appears to b

Will agricultural weeds claim the upper hand in a changing climate?

Several years ago, a group of weed scientists showed that soil-applied herbicides are less effective against agricultural weeds in the context of a changing climate. Now, the same research group, led by the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has shown the same is true of post-emergence herbicides. Mining a 30-year database from 16 extension weed science programs across the U.S. corn belt, the researchers found variable weather significantly reduces the effectiveness of three leading post-emergence herbicides against major weeds affecting corn and soybeans. Chris Landau, post-doctoral researcher for USDA-ARS, said weather doesn’t matter only in the hours after application, but that air temperature and precipitation are linked with herbicide effectiveness days before and after application for the products and weeds the team studied. The researchers analyzed thousands of data points, including a broad range of weather conditions over 30

Oat, barley production estimates Bumped Higher

The 2024 Canadian oat and barley crops ended up turning out better than expected. In its final crop production report for the 2024 season on Thursday, Statistics Canada pegged the national barley crop at 8.144 million tonnes, a substantial increase from the federal agency’s September report which put the crop at just 7.6 million. Meanwhile, oat output was reported at 3.358 million tonnes, compared to 3.017 million in September. But despite the increase from the fall, estimated barley production is still 8.6% below a year earlier and potentially the smallest barley crop since 2017 at 7.891 million tonnes, excluding the drought-slashed production year of 2021. For oats, estimated production is up 27% on the year but still well down from the 2022 crop of 5.226 million. StatsCan’s September crop production report, along with the one released in August, were based satellite imagery and agroclimatic data. Today’s report reflects a survey of Canadian farmers that was conducted betwee

Chicago Close: Soybeans Up on Smaller Canada Canola Crop

Soybean futures ended higher Thursday, boosted in part by a downgraded Canadian canola production estimate. Wheat and corn also ended with gains. Statistics Canada today pegged the 2024 Canadian canola crop at 17.84 million tonnes, down more than 1 million from the agency’s September model-based estimate and 7% below a year earlier. The smaller canola crop sparked fears of tightening global vegoil supplies, which helped to rally soybean oil futures, strength that spilled over to soybeans. The soy market was further supported by the announcement of a private export sale of 136,000 tonnes to China. The weekly USDA weekly export sales report this morning showed bookings of US soybeans for the week ended Nov. 28 at 2.3 million tonnes, near the high end of trade guesses. January beans gained a dime to $9.93 ¾, and new-crop November was up 6 ¼ cents to $10.07. Wheat rallied on a weaker American dollar and reports that Russia’s winter wheat crop went into the winter in unusually poor con