We farm 4,300ac of corn, soft red winter wheat, GMO soya beans and non-GMO soya beans in York, Ontario, about an hour south of Toronto.
We own approximatley 900ac and rent the remainder. I work with my father and my mother on the farm every day. My wife is a vice principal at an elementary school and I have one sibling, who does not work on the farm.
We are almost entirely no-till, with the exception of mouldboard plough once every four years in the fall, after winter wheat and before the corn crop the following year. All of our equipment is set-up to handle no-till or min-till conditions and has oversized tyres to reduce compaction in wet field conditions.
The primary concern this year is that everything was planted later than usual, two to three weeks behind a “normal” planting season. This will affect the yield of the soya beans, but I am not concerned about the quality.
I am however concerned about the corn, especially regarding quality. If we have an early frost the corn will be so immature that it will greatly affect the kernel weight and starch composition. We have a very good crop insurance programme here in Canada and if the crop is a disaster it will be mitigated somewhat by the insurance claim.
Winter wheat is off, it ran 70% of a regular yield, around 55 b/ac. The soya beans were split; some were planted on time the rest were planted late, so I’m guessing the yield will be below average, but not a disaster.
If the frost stays away until at least mid-late October, then the crop looks good. I have a few fields planted very late that will not yield very well, but the majority are currently silking/pollinating. That’s about two weeks behind a normal year. I did change my corn varieties to earlier-maturing varieties as I knew that I would be planting later.
I would say that NAFTA or USMCA has not affected our prices much. It is a small issue in a very large pot of issues. The main two concerns, from the perspective of a Canadian grain farmer, are the US-China trade wars, which have greatly impacted the futures prices for grains, and the Canada-China conflict caused by the arrest of a Huawei executive. The latter has caused the banning of most canola imports as well as almost drying up the soybean imports.
On the NAFTA side, even if NAFTA was lost and no deal was made, we would fall back on the previous trade agreement which was the same, (no tariffs on grains) so it wouldn’t affect us much.
GM technology has greatly improved the yields on our farm, especially in corn. It has given us much better weed control as well as control of many pests like corn borer that could devastate crops given the right year for infestation. It has also increased the price of seed by over 300% in 10 years. Because of this, there is competition between seed companies, so they are doing everything they can to breed better crops, which is benefitting the farmer.
Read more
Soil health: the Canadian experience
Listen: grants to encourage the use of native grains
Listen: commanding a premium for non-GM soya beans in Canada
We farm 4,300ac of corn, soft red winter wheat, GMO soya beans and non-GMO soya beans in York, Ontario, about an hour south of Toronto.
We own approximatley 900ac and rent the remainder. I work with my father and my mother on the farm every day. My wife is a vice principal at an elementary school and I have one sibling, who does not work on the farm.
We are almost entirely no-till, with the exception of mouldboard plough once every four years in the fall, after winter wheat and before the corn crop the following year. All of our equipment is set-up to handle no-till or min-till conditions and has oversized tyres to reduce compaction in wet field conditions.
The primary concern this year is that everything was planted later than usual, two to three weeks behind a “normal” planting season. This will affect the yield of the soya beans, but I am not concerned about the quality.
I am however concerned about the corn, especially regarding quality. If we have an early frost the corn will be so immature that it will greatly affect the kernel weight and starch composition. We have a very good crop insurance programme here in Canada and if the crop is a disaster it will be mitigated somewhat by the insurance claim.
Winter wheat is off, it ran 70% of a regular yield, around 55 b/ac. The soya beans were split; some were planted on time the rest were planted late, so I’m guessing the yield will be below average, but not a disaster.
If the frost stays away until at least mid-late October, then the crop looks good. I have a few fields planted very late that will not yield very well, but the majority are currently silking/pollinating. That’s about two weeks behind a normal year. I did change my corn varieties to earlier-maturing varieties as I knew that I would be planting later.
I would say that NAFTA or USMCA has not affected our prices much. It is a small issue in a very large pot of issues. The main two concerns, from the perspective of a Canadian grain farmer, are the US-China trade wars, which have greatly impacted the futures prices for grains, and the Canada-China conflict caused by the arrest of a Huawei executive. The latter has caused the banning of most canola imports as well as almost drying up the soybean imports.
On the NAFTA side, even if NAFTA was lost and no deal was made, we would fall back on the previous trade agreement which was the same, (no tariffs on grains) so it wouldn’t affect us much.
GM technology has greatly improved the yields on our farm, especially in corn. It has given us much better weed control as well as control of many pests like corn borer that could devastate crops given the right year for infestation. It has also increased the price of seed by over 300% in 10 years. Because of this, there is competition between seed companies, so they are doing everything they can to breed better crops, which is benefitting the farmer.
Read more
Soil health: the Canadian experience
Listen: grants to encourage the use of native grains
Listen: commanding a premium for non-GM soya beans in Canada
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