1 www.ghscia.com

goldenhorseshoeSO

IL A

ND C

ROP

NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

Inside:•Meet the Fisher family of Halton Region•FarmSmart Conference special•OSCIA News•OMAFRA CropTalk

The official publication of the Golden Horseshoe Soil and Crop Improvement Association serving the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association members in the counties of Brant, Haldimand, Halton, Niagara North, Niagara South, Norfolk, Peel and Wentworth

2 www.ghscia.com

goldenhorseshoeSO

IL A

ND C

ROP

NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

29

4 Member profile

! 6! President’s message

! 6! New agriculture minister

! 8! FarmSmart Conference

!11! Sponsor spotlight

!12! Let’s talk corn yield

!14! Launch of Cloverpad

!15! Savvy Farmer

!16! OSCIA News

!19! OMAFRA CropTalk

!29! Soil test workshops

!29! Lobb wins national award

!29! OMAFRA Crop Advances

!30! Who do I call?

!31! Coming Events

Cover photo: Paul, Helle and Jamie Fisher of Fidale Farms Ltd., Halton Region.Photo credit: Anne Howden Thompson

4

6

8

3 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

EXECUTIVEPresident: Rosemarie HaegensPast President: Gerry Veldhuizen 1st Vice President: Arpad PasztorSecretary: Mark Janiec Treasurer: Anne Howden Thompson

ASSOCIATION DIRECTORSLennie Aarts, Dianne Booker, Jeremy Huizinga, John Hussack, Greg Kitching, Gary Mountain, John Nurse, Arpad Pasztor, Ed Russell, Steve Sickle, John Sikkens, Scott Sowden, Peter Szentimrey, Andrew Spoelstra, Mike Tomascin, Fritz Trauttsmandorff, Julia Whalen

PROVINCIAL DIRECTORMarshall Davis

EDITORAnne Howden Thompson

OMAFRA REPRESENTATIVESChristine BrownIan McDonald

goldenhorseshoe is published four times a year by the Golden Horseshoe Soil and Crop Improvement Association and distributed to the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association members within the counties/regions of Brant, Haldimand, Halton, Niagara North, Niagara South, Norfolk, Peel and the City of Hamilton (formerly Wentworth County).

GOLDEN HORSESHOE SOIL AND CROP IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION

12722 Heritage Road, Caledon, ON L7C 1T3Phone: 905-873-6811Email: goldenhorseshoe.scia@rogers.comTwitter: www.Twitter.com/GHSCIAWebsite: www.ghscia.com

If you are interested in receiving this newsletter or want to change your address, please contact the editor. Comments, ideas and sponsorship welcome.

Contact your local/county secretary for Ontario Soil & Crop Improvement Association membership rates.

Undeliverable Canadian mail return to Golden Horseshoe Soil & Crop Improvement Association12722 Heritage Road, Caledon, ON L7C 1T3

Canadian Publications Mail Agreement 40046443

Welcome to the Spring 2012 edition of goldenhorseshoe.

Our FarmSmart Conference in January at the University of Guelph was another huge success, continuing to break attendance records. Industry support for this event is tremendous and we could not deliver the exceptional program if it weren’t for the many partners who come together with the Golden Horseshoe and Heartland Regional Soil and Crop Improvement Associations. A huge thank you to everyone who helped us put together our best conference ever. If you missed it, we have included some features here in our newsletter highlighting conference speakers and we hope you will mark your calendars now and plan to attend next year’s conference on Saturday, January 19, 2013.

At the local level our organizations continue to prove they are active and thriving, with many events planned in the coming months. Be sure to check out the Coming Events listing on page 31 for more details on all the regional and local events and plan to attend.

Membership in the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association offers many benefits, including member discounts at select industry events and receipt of this newsletter. Following the series of county annual general meetings our county secretaries are compiling the current membership roster, which will take effect with the distribution of the Summer 2012 newsletter. Make sure you are renewed and current so you don’t miss out on the next issue or any of the exciting news going on in our busy region!

As always, a special highlight of each issue is the opportunity to profile one of our own members and in this issue we meet the Fisher family of Halton Region. I shared a wonderful visit with this family and share with you here another great Golden Horseshoe success story.

The weather is beginning to warm and farmers are beginning to get anxious for spring planting. Here is hoping that the coming crop year is a productive and safe one for our members.

As always, comments, story ideas and sponsorship are welcome and I look forward to hearing from you. gh

Anne may be reached at goldenhorseshoe.scia@rogers.com or 905-873-6811

editorial

Photo by Lisa Scale

4 www.ghscia.com

It’s not your traditional farmstead property.That’s how Jamie Fisher described his

acreage to me as we set off in the pickup truck for a tour on the day of the interview.

And he is right.Located in the small hamlet of Kilbride, just

outside Burlington, Fisher’s Fidale Farms Ltd., like many other farms in the urban shadow, is surrounded by many neighbours; in this case an eclectic mix of small, cottage-size bungalows nestled amidst the newer, much more upscale, country estate homes.

But there is much about Jamie’s property that is unique.

Once you enter the long-meandering laneway of the farm property, you enter a bastion of quiet and privacy that belies the close proximity of the neighbours making it indeed, as Jamie describes it, not your traditional farmstead.

Home base for the Fisher operation is a 90-acre reclaimed quarry with varying levels of elevation throughout that create unique and

separate sections for the various family enterprises, including a large shop, a 20,000 square foot hay storage barn, cattle feeding facilities and the horses. In the large expansive floor of the former quarry the family have built their own show-size horse ring, giving his wife, Helle, and daughter Kim the perfect place to enjoy their horses.

This creative reclamation is just one example of the type of quiet, entrepreneurial spirit displayed by Jamie Fisher, our profile farm family for this issue of goldenhorseshoe.

Jamie is a Halton Region farmer, born and bred. He spent the first eight years of his life on the family’s original homestead, first settled by his ancesters in 1818, now the site of the Burlington Mall. But when a strip was expropriated down the center of the farm and its orchards replaced with sewer and water lines, “that took the fun out of it,” says Jamie. While trees could be replanted it would take several years until they reached

continued on next page...

Meet the Fisher family of Halton Region

member profile

5 www.ghscia.com

fruit-bearing maturity, so the family made the difficult decision to leave their ancestral acreage.

They chose to remain in Halton, relocating their farm operation to a property on Highway 5 (Dundas Street), where his father, Peter, remains today. Peter still oversees the 40-acres of pears (planted when the war veterans came home from overseas) while Jamie continues to farm the balance of the property.

Jamie met Helle (nee Nielsen) while he was delivering hay to a nearby horse stable that she was managing at the time. Helle was born in Denmark and immigrated to Canada with her parents when she was two-months old. The couple married in 1988 and moved to their current farm location in 1999.

Today the family farms about 1300 acres in Halton Region, across a swath of land that stretches from Dundas Street in the south to just north of the 401, bordered east and west by Tremaine Road and Highway 6 respectively. “We know a bit about traffic,” he says with a resigned laugh.

While traffic congestion and moving farm equipment in the near urban area is difficult, Jamie says, “people are probably better than we give them credit for; but it only takes one in a thousand to mess up your day.”

Most of the family’s acreage is committed to hay production for local horse farms, accounting for about 750 acres of the family’s total farm production, with the rest of the acreage split between soybeans and wheat, “and some odds and ends—a little bit of winter barley for the cows and some switchgrass that we are playing with,” he says.

Because the operation is set up for hay production, most of their tillage is currently conventional, although Jamie noted that as the operation gets larger they will be looking at some no-till options for the beans and wheat.

Sixty acres of the “odds and ends” acreage is dedicated to switchgrass—“enough to make it worthwhile getting the baler out,” Jamie says.

The acreage was planted in two installments, with the first 35 acres going in three years ago and the remaining 25 acres planted the following year. The first crop was cut last fall and is waiting baling this spring. It will be the family’s first harvest. Another 35 acres is planned to be planted this spring.

continued, see “Fisher” on page 7...

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

Photos, top to bottom: Jamie (standing in a field of switchgrass), Kim, Heidi and Paul Fisher. All photos part of the Fisher family collection by Helle V. Fisher Photography.

6 www.ghscia.com

After attending all the informative sessions this winter, I went into the start of the season feeling like a race car--well-oiled and finely-tuned with my engine revving and waiting for the race to start. Well that was two weeks

ago. This week the unusually warm weather has once again plagued me with a bad case of the ‘should I’s’. Should I start digging? Should I pull the spring orders out? Should I start spreading clover? Yet with all the preparation, we remain at the mercy of Mother Nature and the decisions we make today--as well informed as they are--are usually put under scrutiny by what we know tomorrow.

It is not unusual for me to seed my clover during the March Break, but, what is unusual is that the ground was fit to drive over without frost, and I didn’t even come home feeling like a Popsicle. I am going to take these rarities as a good omen. (If you feel otherwise, please keep it to yourself as I prefer to stay positive.)

I was once asked if I was in the habit of visiting the casinos. Yes, I have gone to the casino, but soon realized that it really wasn’t something that I enjoyed. In hindsight, I realized that I play the odds every day I step out the door and make my first decision. As the warm weather rushes us into this season, let’s not gamble with our safety, but continue to keep it a priority.

On behalf of the directors of the Golden Horseshoe Soil and Crop Improvement Association I extend to you and your families our hopes and prayers for a safe and prosperous 2012 growing season. gh

~ Rosemarie Haegens, President, Golden Horseshoe Soil and Crop Improvement Association

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2 president’s message

Next issue: Summer 2012Copy deadline: May 20

Ted McMeekin, of the Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale riding is Ontario’s newest agriculture minister.

McMeekin was first elected to the provincial legislature in a 2000 by-election, coming to the provincial arena from municipal politics, serving first as Mayor of Flamborough and later as a city councillor within the then newly-amalgamated City of Hamilton.

In his early days at Queen’s Park, McMeekin served as critic for the tourism and municipal affairs portfolios during the Liberal party’s time in opposition.

While in government he has served as parliamentary assistant to a number of ministries and he held the consumer services ministerial portfolio following the Liberal government’s 2007 re-election.

When news of McMeekin’s appointment first leaked, his agricultural constituents back home in the former county of Wentworth were quick to offer their congratulations, giving him solid endorsements.

“This is great news and I think a great day for agriculture in Ontario. I feel that Ted will be great for the agriculture industry here in Ontario, an excellent voice for Ontario farmers at Queen’s Park and a strong leader and minister,” said Drew Spoelstra, then-president of the Wentworth Soil and Crop Improvement Association. gh

The Golden Horseshoe Soil and Crop Improvement Association board of directors are pleased that the Honourable Ted McMeekin, a representative from within their region, has been named as agriculture minister, and on behalf of their membership, extend him their best wishes and congratulations.

congratulations

Photo courtesy of OMAFRA

Photo credit: Hilary Haegens

7 www.ghscia.com

“Fisher” - continued from page 7 It was the decision of Jamie’s son, Paul, 20, to come

home and be part of the operation that prompted the family to be more aggressive with expanding their farm enterprises, including consideration to a wider range of crop options, such as switchgrass.

While the lands on the Niagara Escarpment may be considered Class 2 or 3 according to the charts and maps, Jamie says “it is definitely challenged when it comes to growing a good crop of corn…and we see potential in the switchgrass market.”

Despite the growing interest in alternative crops and biofuels, “there is nobody ready to write cheques today,” says Jamie, so, what are his plans for the crop?

He will be using some of the switchgrass as bedding straw for his own cow-calf operation and he is exploring its sale as wheat straw replacement. Monaghan Mushrooms, in nearby Campbellville is going to take a sample bale and do an analysis to see if it would work for their compost purposes with their mushroom substrate.

“The potential is looking better and better all the time; it may not be as fast to get to a cheque as we first thought, but it is going to get there,” he says optimistically.

During the winter months the family keep busy with their snow plowing business. They have a contract with the City of Burlington and currently have about nine machines on assignment. “But on a year like this, it has been pretty quiet,” said the father and son team. In their “heyday”, Jamie and Paul say they had about 30 machines on the go throughout the winter months.

A past president of the Halton Federation of Agriculture, Jamie continues to work with the organization and finds himself once again serving on its executive.

He also sits on the Halton Agricultural Advisory Committee (HAAC), but it is the Ontario Biomass Producers’ Group (OBPG), that is currently benefitting most from Jamie’s community involvement. Jamie is the first president of this organization and he is excited by the potential opportunities this industry may offer.

The biomass industry value chains are new and present a real opportunity for farmers to structure them so that they we are not price takers. The OBPG goal is to ensure farmers retain a fair and profitable portion of the biomass value chain.

Like many farm operations, Helle maintains responsibility for all the paperwork of the farm operation, but she remains busy and active with her

own interests as a professional photographer, operating Helle V. Fisher Photography. She says her photographic style has been described as ‘illustrative’, in that each photo tells a story, and the opportunities to watch her family work and play around the farm have provided many wonderful photographic opportunities. She continues to serve as a 4H leader for the local horse club even though her own children have aged out.

Jamie and Helle have three children. Their eldest, Kim, 22, recently graduated with her

paramedics certification and she is currently waiting for her provincial testing, keeping busy at a local stables in the meantime. A 4H program alumnus, she has accepted the challenge to serve as a 4H leader this year, giving her the chance to give back to the organization from which she gained so much.

Heidi, 21, is a fourth year sociology major student at Wilfred Laurier University, currently completing her final semester as part of an international educational exchange opportunity at a university in Denmark. “She seems to be having fun, maybe even learning something,” chuckles her dad. Heidi is a capable tractor operator on the farm during the summer months.

Paul, their youngest, has been home on the farm for a year now and his dad said he is definitely keen on pursuing growing more crops beyond their current focus on the hay market. “He thinks we should be doing more beans and wheat, and he hasn’t had his experience with corn yet, so he is still interested in trying that. And I’m sure we will give him an opportunity to try,” says Jamie.

Paul has also assembled a small meat goat herd and has demonstrated a keen overall interest in participating in many of the workshop and member benefit opportunities available through the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association.

As new challenges arose for the family with their deep Halton roots, they used the opportunities to re-create their farm focus, and the Fisher family provides an excellent example of the type of quiet, entrepreneurial spirit that continues to drive the agricultural industry today. gh

The Halton Soil and Crop Improvement Association selected the Fisher family for this issue’s producer profile.

Editor’s note: Farmers interested in biomass (not just switch grass) are encouraged to go to the website, www.ontariobiomass.com for more information.

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

8 www.ghscia.com

Since its inception in 1998 the leading-edge topics and dynamic speakers assembled by the FarmSmart Conference organizers have continued to draw a larger audience with each successive event and this year’s event did not disappoint.

Over 1000 farmers, agri-business representatives, faculty and students gathered at the University of Guelph’s Rozanski Hall on Saturday, January 21, 2012 for the largest FarmSmart Conference to date.

Throughout the day-long event conference delegates were able to custom design their agenda from over 50 sessions that run throughout the course of the day.

Last year Beef Symposium joined the FarmSmart Conference family, an introduction met with great enthusiasm by organizers and participants and a collaboration that continued for 2012. This year the FarmSmart Conference and Beef Symposium teams presented simultaneous addresses by their respective keynote speakers. This new approach also proved popular, attracting large audiences for the feature speaker presentations from Guido Hoener of Top Agrar magazine in Germany and Lee Leachman of Leachman Cattle of Colorado.

Brian Pogue, beef cattle lead with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) and chair of the Beef Symposium

says he is extremely pleased with both the FarmSmart partnership and the success of the programmes.

Speakers from beyond Ontario’s borders are always popular with attendees and this year’s national and international speaker lineup included Tim Boring of Michigan State University; Shawn Hill of the Prince Edward Island Watershed Alliance; and Virgil Robinson of Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Iowa.

Inclement weather prevented Ken Ferrie of Crop-Tech Consulting in Illinois from attending in person, however participants still got the chance to hear his presentation through video-conference capabilities.

The FarmSmart philosophy has always been to develop a program that would appeal to the whole family and the youth program that runs simultaneously with the main conference continues to be popular with attendees. gh

FarmSmart is organized as a joint project of the Golden Horseshoe and Heartland Regional Soil and Crop Improvement Associations, in partnership with the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA), OMAFRA, the Ontario Agriculture College (OAC) of the University of Guelph and various agri-business sponsors, including Platinum sponsors BASF Canada Inc., Bayer CropScience, Dekalb, Farm Credit Canada, the Grain Farmers of Ontario, Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited and Syngenta.

farmsmart conference special

Conference continues to break recordsPartnership with Beef Symposium huge success

9 www.ghscia.com

Getting your corn off to a good start will require focus on microenvironment around the young seed roots. What will you do as a farmer to make that environment better or worse?

Ken Ferrie, one of the FarmSmart Conference guest speakers, is an independent agronomist who owns Crop-Tech Consulting Incorporated of Illinois, through which he oversees 350,000 acres for his clients. He also plants about 150 test plots every year, testing everything from herbicides and varieties to planters and closing wheels.

Down pressure on the planter is one variable that will change that seed environment. As Ferrie explained, different down pressure affects the microenvironment around the seed – how fast water, oxygen and moisture are allowed to move.

How much down pressure do we need on the planter? It depends on conditions, said Ferrie. Each notch increases the down pressure by about 90 to 100 lbs. In reality, those increasing down pressure settings can go from ideal, to marginal, to destructive, to disastrous.

When Ferrie goes out to a field he’ll look at seedbed establishment and the microenvironment around the seed itself. He’ll see the down pressure his clients are using by looking at the footprint in their field; he’ll talk about equipment and optimize its use, and his advice will follow right through to closing the slot, establishing good seed to soil contact.

The footprint should be uniform and consistent all the way across the fields. A missing footprint tells him that the corn planter is coming out of the ground; if the footprint shines across the field the planter has too much down pressure that water has beaded back to the surface. If he doesn’t see the wheel track or the footprint in places it tells him that the planting depth or seed depth has changed.

Ferrie suggests doing a cross-section beside the row without disturbing the seed to see what effects down pressure is having in your field.

At the first notch of down pressure in a perfect environment there should be no evidence of how that seed got there.

At the second notch of down pressure setting on that planter, it still looks good but there’s a hint of dry soil starting to drop down into the furrow.

At the third notch of down pressure you’re starting to push the planter into the ground and you start to see more distinct dry soil around the seed, where surface soil has gotten down into the trench before it was closed up. Some seed won’t germinate well on time and you’ll get some uneven emergence.

At the fourth notch you will see very distinct wheel tracks as you start to plow some soil; below ground you are causing compaction. “It still looks pretty good from the tractor seat,” said Ferrie, but the reality is that you will have poor soil to seed contact and the seeds are going to fire off at different times, leading to non-uniformity in emergence.

Why would a grower carry too much down pressure? Ferrie finds that farmers may not adjust from field-to-field or year-by-year, when you actually want to adjust day-by-day depending on how much moisture is out there. Some may still have the planter on the setting that was there when they bought it.

It doesn’t matter if you no-till or strip-till or conventional till, probably one of the big factors is speed--the faster you drive, more down pressure you need, and the higher the risk you’ll run.

When Ferrie compared his test plots, the corn at 100 psi was emerging while the 400-psi corn wasn’t out of the ground yet.

At 400 psi we’re shoving the planter into the ground, reported Ferrie; that compaction will slow down root growth and plant growth and smear the furrow sidewalls, making the furrow hard to close. The closing wheels may only pinch the top of the furrow together, causing an air pocket above the seed. Crown roots that develop below ground don’t like to grow in air; they’re going to dry up.

By the fifth and sixth leaf stage the damage almost looks like a starter response, having slowed down root growth due to compaction from the planter. The compaction is so uniform you wouldn’t realize you had slowed things down.

For Ferrie, 250 psi was kind of a sweet spot, but you can’t just say it will be that way every year. It was right for this soil type, for that field, under those conditions, but you’ll have to find your own sweet spot depending on the soil environment you’re working with. gh

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

farmsmart conference special

How much down pressure do you need?By Karen Dallimore

10 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

What people had to say“The FarmSmart Conference saw record numbers of producers and sponsors showing up to participate in a great program featuring many exciting and timely topics. The continued success of the conference is based on the quality of speakers and the commitment of the participants to be open to new ideas.” ~ Ian McDonald, applied research coordinator OMAFRA and FarmSmart Conference co-chair

“The overwhelming number of producers in attendance was encouraging and proves that we are experiencing a time of optimism in the beef industry. The interactive sessions and a dynamic roster of speakers provided all participants with the opportunity to gain new insight and to network with fellow producers from across the province. Our partnership with FarmSmart continues to be a successful venture and we look forward to making a great program even better.” ~ Brian Pogue, Beef Cattle Lead, OMAFRA and Beef Symposium chair

“With the rapidly growing popularity of FarmSmart, (the) Heartland Region is seeing not only a chance to educate our members, but also a growing opportunity for them to network with the OMAFRA, OAC and industry people, not to mention other Soil and Crop members who are travelling greater distances to be a part of FarmSmart.” ~ Stuart Wright, OSCIA provincial director, Heartland Region

“What an amazing turn out for FarmSmart Conference 2012, once again a record breaking attendance! The planning committee and directors of the Golden Horseshoe were pleased to see such a great turn out for an event that was started ‘by farmers for farmers’. My applause goes out to Ian MacDonald, Julie Whalen, Anne Howden Thompson, Carolyn Prieur and to all the OMAFRA and University of Guelph staff that worked so hard to make this event such a success. A special thank-you to all the speakers, for taking the time to share their knowledge with us; to all the sponsors for their continued support; and to all who attended--it is your support that allows the committee to continue to make FarmSmart, a conference that is tailor made for you.” ~ Rosemarie Haegens, GHSCIA President

11 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

sponsor spotlightThe newsletter remains our association’s most important

communications tool to share news with our members, and we are grateful to all our newsletter partner sponsors for their assistance in helping us continue to deliver a strong publication. Thank you to the following sponsors for renewing their sponsorship for another year:

•D & W Group Inc.•R. E. Egger Truck & Machine Ltd.•Huron Commodities Inc.•Scotland Agromart

A complete list of newsletter sponsors is included inside the back over. Please be sure to thank them and support their businesses. gh

FarmSmart 2012 MemoriesClockwise, top left: Another capacity crowd; Dawn Pate, Manager, Field Crop Unit, OMAFRA and OAC Dean Robert Gordon with FarmSmart Conference co-chairman Julia Whalen; FarmSmart is a family affair with the McNiven family (left to right: Everett, Sheryl, Alec & John) of Simcoe County making return visits each January; guests travelled from far and near, including Graham Gambles, Regional Communications Coordinator for the North Eastern Ontario Regional Soil and Crop Improvement Association and his wife, who travelled all the way from Haileybury in northern Ontario. gh

Memberships now due!Make sure your OSCIA membership is current and renewed in order to continue receiving goldenhorseshoe. Your membership is important to us and your organization works hard to present workshops and opportunities of value to you. Don’t miss out! Contact your local secretary (see page 30) for renewal information. gh

FarmSmart speaker presentations now available online. Visit www.uoguelph.ca/farmsmart/conference/presentations.html

12 www.ghscia.com

With the 2011 growing season behind us, many growers and agronomists are once again pre-occupied with the wonders of corn yield. Historically, the last few years have offered so many testaments to the yield potential of corn; 2008 opened our eyes to so many yield possibilities, and the “Dream Season” of 2010 was amazing for many. Bring in 2011 with its many challenges, but this past season still managed to produce some incredibly high corn yields, and overall gave growers yet another surprisingly good yield story.

With that comes all the talk of high yields over the winter months, and a plethora of 200-plus bushel yields generated by industry yield contests. Although these high yields are proven on single acres, do they really tell the story of how to achieve “whole farm” high yields?

Enter the PRIDE Seeds 300+ Bushel Initiative, a new high yield corn management study launched in 2011. What brought us forward to develop this concept? A decade ago, PRIDE Seeds launched the Corn Yield Challenge, measuring the highest yields off a single acre of corn, with all production practices - being agronomically and economically feasible or not – legal and available for corn growers in their attempt to claim bragging rights as High Yield Champion for their area. Since then, this yield contest concept has been adopted by many other seed companies and industry organizations.

With the 300+ Bushel Initiative, PRIDE Seeds has moved beyond the “amazing acre” and taken a leadership position in the challenge of addressing whole-farm yield barriers, and increasing yields and profitability for growers. This project was launched with the intention of studying available yield-enhancing tools, and their ability to overcome the natural variability that exists in even the highest-yielding fields. What are the keys to more yield, from fencerow to fencerow?

In 2011, a dozen producers were selected from across eight counties in Ontario, based on their interest and history of high yield potential. The PRIDE Seeds Agronomy Team focused on three key areas of yield management: population, nitrogen, and the use of foliar fungicides. A range of soil types was selected, and all sites involved some kind of tillage. All sites were rotated out of winter wheat or soybeans except one, which was second-year corn. Two producers were on 20” rows, the remainder were standard 30” rows. All selected sites were soil tested in advance and had adequate “foundation fertility” levels of potassium, phosphorus, etc. to ensure that nitrogen would likely be the yield-limiting nutrient on the farm. Season-long weed control was achieved by using Integrity herbicide.

Growers planted the selected fields to PRIDE G series hybrids, which combine best-in-class genetics and traits to provide the best opportunity for hybrid yield potential. When considering hybrid maturity, CHU ratings were recommended on the high end of the given area, but not so long that it would be deemed “not feasible” in a normal production practice. In all cases the grower was already growing the hybrid as part of his regular portfolio of PRIDE Seeds hybrids.

Additional inputs were used as follows: 1.Populations – a target population of ten

to 20% above the grower’s standard rate;2.Nitrogen – the grower’s standard rate

(generally 160 to 180 lbs/ac) was compared to an aggressive but agronomically reasonable rate of 200 to 220 lbs/ac and a very high rate of 250+ lbs/ac, which most growers and agronomists would deem as “too high”; and;

3.Foliar Fungicide – Headline was applied at VT (tassel emergence) crop stage.

Within the field-scale trial set-up, a high-yield area of ten acres was pushed for yield with all additional inputs supplied, and

continued on next page...

Ken Currah, CCA-ON is a Market Development Agronomist with Pride Seeds, South-Central Ontario. He may be reached at kcurrah@prideseed.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2 Let’s talk about corn yieldThe Pride 300+ Bushel InitiativeBy Ken Currah, CCA-On

13 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

compared to the grower’s base production method.As with all projects --and all crop plantings in

general--the spring of 2011 offered its challenges. Weather challenges created some stand establishment issues and created enough variability to make the population aspect very difficult to reliably evaluate. However, this variability offered a great deal of learning opportunity with respect to the other input changes.

Nitrogen management certainly plays a huge role in corn yield potential. In our trials, the additional 40 to 50 lbs/ac of nitrogen when applied to a high-yielding environment provided a positive return on investment (ROI) of approximately $70 per acre, with a positive ROI in all trial locations. This came as no surprise when one recalls the spring and early summer conditions and their effect on overall nitrogen efficiency and crop utilization.

What amazed us was the effect of the “too high” nitrogen rates of 250+ lbs/acre. Regardless of soil-type, rotation, or the method/timing/source of application, our trial locations achieved an average positive ROI of $80 per acre when compared to the grower’s standard rate. In fact, in our one second-year corn site, rates exceeded 250 lbs per acre and the crop still returned economic yield! This is incredible, but what does it tell us?

Really, it tells us that a given hybrid in a given field can have incredible yield potential, provided all other yield limiting factors have been managed. It also tells us that spring conditions play a huge role in nitrogen management for corn production, as this nutrient can very quickly become a prominent yield limiting factor in any field with good yield potential.

It’s important to note that the ROI or Economic Benefit curve generated by this project is very similar to that of any other nitrogen input study; yield is returned up to a certain point, then the curve levels off and at some point becomes unfeasible. However, I think we’ve proven that for the highest yielding environments, nitrogen rates may need to be increased by 10 to 20 per cent. More research in this area is warranted.

For the PRIDE Seeds 300+ Bushel Initiative we also chose to work with Headline fungicide, applied at the VT or “tassel emergence” crop stage. A combination of aerial and land machines were used for application. Once again, this management tool provided positive ROI in all of our trials, with a range of seven to 30 bushels per acre. Overall, an average return of 16 bushels per acre, or an economic benefit of $61 per acre was achieved. More importantly, Headline provided secondary benefits beyond the yield increase. Overall, these differences were random but did occur in the majority of locations. Of note was the benefit to harvest conditions of the crop, such as better plant intactness, fewer stalks going through the combine, and overall an easier-shelling, cleaner sample with lower dockage components. The PRIDE Seeds Agronomy Team recommends the use of a foliar fungicide applied at VT stage for most fields, in particular for those fields that have above-average yield potential.

Going forward, PRIDE Seeds remains committed to our pursuit of higher-yielding corn. There is more yield potential to unlock in our fields! For 2012, the 300+ Bushel Initiative will be expanded to include more growers with a focus on similar agronomic practices and input variables that are leading to higher yields.

The pursuit of higher yields is not a question of “How much yield?” but really a question of “How much more economic yield” can we achieve in our fields? For our participants in 2011, the answer was another 20 to 60 bushels per acre. gh

For more information on the PRIDE Seeds 300+ Bushel Initiative, please contact any member of the PRIDE Seeds Agronomy Team, or go to www.prideseed.com for more details. You can follow PRIDE SEEDS and the 2012 PRIDE Seeds 300+ Bushel Initiative on Twitter @PRIDESEEDS.

!

14 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2 Launch of CloverpadNew online serviceCloverpad is the new online data and event management system established by Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) last year as a pilot project amongst some select counties and regions. At the OSCIA annual general meeting in February the rest of the Regional Communications Coordinator team were introduced to the system so that we could also begin using the tool within our respective regions.

In time, the membership systems for our counties will be merged onto the new system, but for now Golden Horseshoe is getting started using it for its event management capabilities. I encourage you to

take the time to visit the website to check it out. Many of the events available for OSCIA members are populated on the site, accessible and viewable under the “Events” tab as either lists or in calendar mode (shown, above), your preference. To get details on an event, simply click on the event itself. The new system offers many attractive features for both the OSCIA and regional administration teams, but from a member’s

perspective, the “Add to my calendar” button is a handy tool. Just click on that button to have the event details automatically populate in your own electronic calendar. Online registration is quite easy (click on

“Register”, shown above) and if you have any troubles, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Anne Howden Thompson at goldenhorseshoe.scia@rogers.com or 905-873-6811. gh

“Coming Events” continued from page 31

the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA). Non-members may register for $30, includes a one-year membership in their local OSCIA club. Payment should be remitted at time of registration. For information or registration: Nancy Comber, Halton Federation of Agriculture at speccomm@lara.on.ca or Anne Howden Thompson, GHSCIA at goldenhorseshoe.scia@rogers.com. Pre-registration also available at www.oscia.cloverpad.org.

MON. APRIL 2 – Halton SCIA Spring Car Tour to Parrish and Heimbecker Limited, Hamilton. Join Halton SCIA members as they "meet the new guy on the waterfront" for a tour of the Parrish and Heimbecker Limited Hamilton waterfront facilities. Free to OSCIA members. All welcome. Pre-registration required. Members will meet at 10 am at the Parrish and Heimbecker Limited facilities, Pier 10, 231 Burlington Street East, Hamilton. Head towards the main entrance and staff will give guests parking instructions. Registration available online at www.oscia.cloverpad.org or with Peter Lambrick at 905-854-9957 or lambrickfarms@bell.net. Please note: On the day of the tour if members arrive on site and can't find the group, please use these numbers: Parrish and Heimbecker Limited at 905-512-8493; or Peter Lambrick at 905-875-6063

IMPORTANT: Please note that the following events previously announced have been re-scheduled due to the warming spring weather:

* Niagara North Bus Trip - Will be re-scheduled to late August

* Peel Bus trip to Salford & IGPC - Will be re-scheduled to early July

* Niagara North Crop Production Day - Will be re-scheduled; date to be announced gh

t

www.oscia.cloverpad.org

15 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

Guelph-based The Savvy Farmer Inc. has announced the launch of Savvy Farmer lite, a free version of its popular Savvy Farmer software.

The "lite" version allows growers and other pest control professionals fast access to pest control information including:

•listings of all products that control any weed, insect, disease, or nuisance animal problem in over 750 crops including field crops, fruits and vegetables

•product rates of application•all product labels, including co-packs and newly

registered products•identification photos of over 1,000 pests, including

weeds, insects, and diseases"While Savvy Farmer lite contains fewer features

than the Advanced version, we believe many farmers will find it an extremely convenient tool that they will refer to often. Since there is no subscription required, users can bookmark the site on their computer or tablet and use it as often as they want, free of charge.”

The free service operates as a cloud-based application; therefore its data can be updated every day. "It's a rare day that there isn't new information to add to Savvy Farmer... and we work hard to be the most complete and current source of pest control information in Canada," says Warren Libby, Savvy Farmer president.

The company will continue to offer more "in-depth" information through its subscription-based Savvy Farmer Advanced and Savvy Farmer Pro services. These versions of Savvy Farmer offer deeper information on treatments including all tank-mixes, advanced tools to customize treatments, additional information, mobile access, and electronic record-keeping capability. First launched in 2011, Savvy Farmer is already trusted by farmers, agricultural retailers, custom applicators, agronomists, and government across Canada as the #1 source of unbiased pest control information. gh

Savvy Farmer lite can be accessed at www.savvyfarmerlite.com while information on all the Savvy Farmer softwares can be found at www.savvyfarmer.com

Our local Soil and Crop Improvement Associations rely on the generous contributions of the agri-business partners in their communities to help deliver and support local projects. The following sponsors provided support for the local associations during the recent series of county annual meetings and the local associations want to say “thank you”.

BrantAIM Environmental GroupAlpine Plant Foods CorporationBow Park FarmCargill LimitedDekalb R. E. Egger Truck & Machine LimitedFS PARTNERS, a division of GROWMARK INC.Farm Credit CanadaG J’s Farm Equipment Sales & ServiceGeneral Seed CompanyGrand River Conservation AuthorityGrand River PlantersW.J. Heaslip LimitedHyland SeedsIGPCIntegrated Grain Processors CooperativeMycogen SeedsSyngenta Seeds Canada Inc.PICKSEEDPioneer Hi-Bred Limited, CanadaPRIDE SeedsQuality SeedsScotland Agromart Ltd.Stratford Agri-AnalysisSyngenta CanadaSzentimrey Seeds Ltd.Terratec Environmental Ltd.Wessuc Inc.

Haldimand, Niagara North & NiagaraSouthAIM Environmental GroupAlpine Plant Foods CorporationBertie and Clinton Mutual Insurance CompanyCayuga Mutual Insurance CompanyClark Agri Service Inc.Doughty & WilliamsonR. E. Egger Truck & Machine Ltd.Farm Credit CanadaHessels Farm Supply Ltd.Hyland SeedsMaizex Seeds Inc.Niagara Battery & TirePioneer Hi-Bred Limited CanadaRedtrac International ScotiabankSouth Coast AgronomySyngenta CanadaTD Canada TrustTerratec Environmental Ltd.

NorfolkFarm Credit Canada @GHSCIA

16 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

17 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

18 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

19 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

20 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

21 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

22 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

23 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

24 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

25 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

26 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

27 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

28 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

29 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2 Crop AdvancesThe Crop Advances reports summarize many of the projects which the field crop unit and staff from the Agriculture Development Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) were involved with over the past few years in partnership with commodity groups, industry, and the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA). Interim reports are included highlighting on-going projects. Projects include field trials, resource tool developments, and activities, among others. In addition, this report highlights some of the key extension events which the OMAFRA Field Crop unit and staff from the Agriculture Development Branch are involved in which relate to field crops. Check it out today at www.ontariosoilcrop.org/cropadvances.htm gh

Norfolk Directors 2012Back row (left to right): Kees Meijaard, Dave Dockx, Fred Judd and Arpad Pasztor; front row, Jeff Purdy, Scott Sowden, Greg Squires and Frank VanDeSlyke. Absent: Rick Pasztor, Noel Heye, Rob Jamieson, Stefan Dewaele, Scott Ruppert, Ann Vermeersch, Brad Persall, Brett Schuyler and Larry Bauslaugh. gh

Test before you investSoil sampling is key As this issue of goldenhorseshoe is prepared, the 2012 soil test workshop series led by Peter Johnson, OMAFRA’s popular and always entertaining cereals specialist has just wrapped up for another year, attracting over 70 participants to our two host Golden Horseshoe locations.

While the agriculture industry is constantly bombarded with new technological advancements and opportunities, it was refreshing and encouraging to see that our members continue to place importance and find great value in workshop opportunities that ‘get back to basics’. gh

The soil test workshop series was organized through the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association’s Education Grant program, and presented in the Golden Horseshoe region with the grateful assistance of the following industry partners, named at left.

More congratulationsLobb nabs national awardGHSCIA member Don Lobb of Caledon, a past OSCIA Honorary President, was named as the first national recipient of the L. B. Thomson Conservation Award. He was presented his award at the recent OSCIA Annual General Meeting in London. Shown, above, left to right: Aaron Nursoo, Don’s son in law; Jamshed Merchant, Assistant Deputy Minister, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Agri-Environmental Services Branch; Don Lobb; Don’s wife Lillie Ann Morris, and his daughter, Sandra Lobb. See story in OSCIA News, page 18.

Soil Test Workshop sponsors•A & L Canada Laboratories Inc.•FS PARTNERS, a division of GROWMARK INC.•Hamilton-Halton Watershed Stewardship Program•Long Point Region Conservatory Authority•A.G. Pasztor & Sons Farm Supply Ltd.•SGS Agri-Food Laboratories•Stratford Agri-Analysis

30 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2 Who do I call?Regional & county contacts

31 www.ghscia.com

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2

Sponsor SpotlightOntario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairswww.omafra.gov.on.ca

Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Associationwww.ontariosoilcrop.org

City of Hamiltonwww.hamilton.ca

City of Torontowww.toronto.ca

D & W Group Inc.www.dwgroup.ca

Egger Truck & Machine Ltd.www.eggertruck.com

FS Partnerswww.fspartners.ca

Grand River Planters www.grpp.ca

Halton Regionwww.halton.ca

Huron Commodities Inc.www.huron.com

Hyland Seedswww.hylandseeds.com

IGPCwww.igpc.ca

Maizex Seeds Inc.www.maizex.com

Niagara Regionwww.niagararegion.ca

Novozymes BioAg Limitedwww.novozymes.com

Pride Seeds www.prideseed.com

Region of Peelwww.peelregion.ca

Scotland Agromart Ltd.www.agromartgroup.com

Syngenta Seeds Canada Inc.www.nkcanada.com

TD Canada Trust Agriculture Serviceswww.tdcanadatrust.com

Coming eventsTUES. MARCH 27 – Wentworth SCIA Grain Storage Handling Workshop with OMAFRA’s Helmut Spieser at Shirlmar Farms, 263 Butter Road West, Ancaster, 9:30 am. Producer panel discussion in the afternoon, featuring: Mark Brock of D & D Brock Farms, Staffa (pneumatic grain system); Mark Comley of Shirlmar Farms Inc., Ancaster (grain elevator system); and Fritz Trauttmansdorff of Dunlea Farms, Jerseyville (grain conveying system). All welcome. Free to all OSCIA members. Lunch: $15. Pre-registration preferred. For information: Michelle Spoelstra at 905-692-5751 or royalea@pathcom.com. Information also available online at www.oscia.cloverpad.org. Click on “Events”.

WED. MARCH 28 – Haldimand SCIA MTO Truck Inspection Workshop at Eggers Truck & Machine Ltd., 85 Robinson Road, Dunnville, 5:30 pm. Do you have questions about the use of agriculture husbandry vehicles on Ontario's roads? Come out to this hands-on workshop to hear from Kerry Wirachowsky, MTO and have your questions answered. Supper included. Free to OSCIA members, $10 for non-OSCIA members. All welcome. Haldimand members, please come prepared to renew your three-year membership. ($90). For information: Dianne Booker at 905-899-3748 or cwdibooker@gmail.com or John Hussack at jhussack@clarkagriservice.com. Information also available online at www.oscia.cloverpad.org.

THURS. MARCH 29 – Brant SCIA Forum: Q & A with OPP Officer Mark Foster at Ross Illett's, 239 Highway 5, St. George, 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. This is an informal "Question and Answer" evening, giving farmers the opportunity to ask questions of Mark Foster, an OPP Officer, on a variety of issues under police jurisdiction, including trespass, farmstead protection from theft, general security, etc. Participants are asked to bring a lawn chair. Light refreshments to be served. FREE to OSCIA members. All welcome. Pre-registration not required. For information: Tricia Henderson at 519-448-1000 or tshenderson@sympatico.ca.

SAT. MAR. 31 – Halton MTO Workshop at the Country Heritage Park, 8560 Tremaine Road, Milton, with MTO’s Kerry Wirachowsky. A full day program is being planned by the Halton Federation of Agriculture, with the afternoon MTO Workshop offered in partnership with the Golden Horseshoe Soil and Crop Improvement Association (GHSCIA). Free to members of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) and

Continued on page 14, see “Coming Events”.

32 www.ghscia.com

Canada Publications Mail Agreement 40046443

Printed in Canada

SOIL

AND

CRO

P NEWS

SPR

ING

201

2 goldenhorseshoe is provided by the Golden Horseshoe Soil and Crop Improvement Association in cooperation with the local associations in the counties/regions of Brant, Haldimand, Halton, Niagara North, Niagara South, Norfolk, Peel, Wentworth (the City of Hamilton) and the generous support of our agribusiness and community newsletter contributing sponsors.