Now, new research from Chonnam National University in South Korea is shedding light on what’s happening inside plants during those sudden temperature drops — and how we might help crops cope better.

The research team, led by Professor Jungmook Kim, has uncovered a rapid molecular “switch” that helps plants survive freezing conditions by rewiring how their roots grow.

WHY IT MATTERS: Frost damage hits yield potential early, which can be an expensive hit on the bottom line. It’s a growing threat as extreme weather swings become more frequent.

For years, scientists have known that cold stress reduces plant growth. What wasn’t clear is how quickly plants sense the cold and what internal systems they activate to survive it. Understanding how plants respond at the molecular level to freezing temperatures could help researchers develop varieties that recover faster — or avoid damage in the first place.

Kim and his team found that cold temperatures don’t just put growth on pause. Instead, they trigger a fast breakdown of specific regulatory proteins known as Aux/IAA repressors.

Under normal conditions, these repressors act like brakes, preventing certain growth genes from turning on. But when temperatures drop, those repressors rapidly break down, releasing two key regulators that then activate a “master gene” called CRF3.

According to Kim, cold stress doesn’t simply slow plant growth, it actively rewires hormone signaling to adapt root development. The study showed that once CRF3 is activated, it reshapes root architecture.

In simple terms, the plant switches gears and instead of following its usual growth pattern, it reorganizes root development to better survive cold soil conditions. It’s a fast, coordinated reaction rather than a slow decline, which is why frost damage is visible almost immediately.

The work was done using tobacco plants as well as a small member of the mustard family called Arabidopsis thaliana, which is popular with plant scientists because of its short life cycle and prolific seed production. Both species are commonly used in plant science because their genetics are well understood, and Arabidopsis was the first-ever sequenced plant genome.

But according to Kim, the mechanism is likely broader. That’s because the proteins in question are found in all known land plants, including major, economically important crops like corn, soybeans, wheat and canola.

Fields for real

The next step for Kim’s team is to confirm how the switch behaves under real field conditions before they can look at implementable on-farm applications. If it pans out, it could mean new varieties capable of maintaining stable root growth in cold soils or better nutrient absorption and less fertilizer use.

The research also suggests the possibility of developing synthetic molecules or biostimulants that could protect seedlings during extreme cold spells, something that could interest both farmers and input suppliers.

According to the Weather Network, “spring in reverse” events, where cold arctic air hits after a warming trend, have been a reasonably frequent occurrence in southern Ontario in recent years.

In 2020, there was more snow in May than April, for example, and in 2021, May tied March for snowfall levels.

Longer-term, this discovery could even become a target for precision breeding or gene-editing approaches such as CRISPR. Rather than simply selecting for general cold tolerance, breeders could focus specifically on strengthening this molecular switch to improve how roots respond at the moment cold stress hits.

That could support earlier planting windows, particularly in northern areas where sub-zero temperatures can often last well into May, as well as lower replant risk and improve crop stability and even food security in marginal climates or more remote regions.

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Scott Walker hails from a fruit and vegetable farm in Ontario but lives in Manitoba where he operates a consulting firm specializing in non-conventional nutrient and crop-protection products for Prairie cash cropping.

WHY IT MATTERS: If effective, biological and biostimulant products could provide crucial solutions for organic farmers, who are restricted on what inputs they can use under Canadian organic standards.

Biologicals are living organisms, usually bacteria or fungi, that interact with the soil or plant to support growth. Biostimulants are substances that help plants take up nutrients more efficiently or tolerate stress better.

There’s often an inadequate explanation of how to apply biologicals and biostimulants, said Walker, using humic acid as an example. It’s crucial that producers know the ratio of humic acid to fulvic acid in their soil in order to properly apply the product. However, the test can be difficult to obtain and often producers simply do what they think is right without confirming.

Showing photos of a side-by-side flax trial with one side having much bigger root systems, Walker noted this was from the application of a biostimulant. Photosynthesis sped up, causing exudites to be driven into the ground. However, it was very dry at the time of application. There was nothing for the roots to feed on, so the yield was actually higher in the crop without the biostimulant.

“You don’t get paid for pretty roots,” Walker said.

Research shortcomings

Walker spent much of the session identifying the shortcomings of current research for biologicals and biostimulants. He urged farmers to work around these shortcomings to gain confidence in product use.

Over the decades, funding has been the big challenge for getting research done, Walker said. He remembered in the mid-2010s seeing results from an academic research paper and convincing a couple of Prairie producers — whose wives painstakingly plucked leaves from canola plants for testing — to conduct side-by-side trials. The results were promising, but when he approached the Canola Council of Canada for support, he was turned down.

Producers can evaluate products at home. “Ask the (salesperson) for a sample,” Walker said. “Take it home and put it in a windowsill to see how it performs.”

He encouraged those in attendance to take time during the winter to dive into the details of these products. Research on the internet. Then research that research to see if it’s reputable.

When you type keywords into an online search engine, don’t rely on the AI overview or sponsored sites. “And actually read the (research) papers,” Walker said. “Yes, they can be very dry, but there’s good information buried there.”

Access to more specialized testing — of soil, plant tissues, plant saps — is coming, if not already here. Walker cited a lab in Red Deer, Alta. that provides a range of testing that, until now, has often only been available in Europe.

“As we get more and more of this, it will lead to you knowing what’s going to happen in your field in a matter of days,” he said.

Test carefully

Walker said farmers should stick to sampling regimes to which they’re accustomed. Use any new or alternative sampling opportunities as a learning tool. If they find they appreciate the information provided, they can add a new type of sampling to protocols in the future.

When monitoring the progress of side-by-side trials, don’t do it while travelling at 80 km/h along the roadway. Get out into the field. Sometimes it’s hard to see the details even when walking through the field, Walker added.

“You may not see anything when you’re walking but stop, pull up that plant and put on the tailgate. And, by golly, it will jump right out at you,” he said.

When recording yield, don’t rely on the combine’s yield monitor. Do it the old-fashioned way, but hopefully using new and larger-scale technology. Find a neighbour with weighing capabilities on a grain cart. Harvest 1,000 feet with a 40-foot header — that’s about an acre. Dump that in the grain cart. Zero out the scale and do the same thing again.

He encouraged audience members to work together on plots exploring questions of common concern. They can try out products and lobby farm organizations together to help secure funding to continue the work.

The post Organic growers should work together to test biologicals, biostimulants appeared first on Farmtario.

Why it matters: Sencor’s portfolio products add more crop protection solutions for Canadian growers.

Sencor products have been used for decades on tough broadleaf and grassy weeds across a wide range of crops, including pulses, potatoes and soybeans. With the new integration of Sencor products, Sipcam Agro will expand proven herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and biostimulants.

Sencor products are a Group 5 mode of action, making them an important tool to help growers manage weed resistance.

Sipcam will soon begin managing all sales, marketing and distribution activities for Sencor 75 DF and Sencor 480 F in Canada.

Sipcam is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. Since 2024, Sipcam Agro in Canada has focused on supplying crop protection products to Canadian farmers.

akienlen@fbcpublishing.com

The post Sencor crop protection products now available from SipCam Agro Canada appeared first on Farmtario.

Representatives delivered short pitches on their companies’ innovations to a crowded tent at the show in Woodstock on Wednesday morning.

Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness Trevor Jones opened the event with words about the importance of Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show as an innovation showcase.

“From the Innovations Pavilion to the Dairy Innovation Center, more than 20 local innovators and startups are right here, sharing their expertise in helping Ontario farmers stay competitive on a global scale,” he said.

Metos Enhanced

The first presenter was Avi Bhargava, CEO of Metos Enhanced, a solution delivering field insights to farmers.

Bhargava said Metos “delivers field insights to farmers and aggregated insights to agronomy teams.”

“As a farmer, they get to see which fields require crop protection, nutrient application, and when. We’re providing information on dynamic growth staging, insect pressure, disease forecasting, which is adaptive in real-time.”

He added the system learns more every season and gets more precise over time as more farmers use it.

Landwise Analytica

Next was Landwise Analytica, an instant land-assessment platform. Co-Founder Patrick McMillan said the system allows farmers to purchase land in areas they haven’t grown in before when looking for property in other regions.

“Everybody in here probably knows a farmer or two has moved from Ontario to the greener pastures of Quebec or Alberta looking for cheaper land.”

“To meet farmers having to move to areas that (they’ve) not traditionally farmed in previously, we’ve developed a system which can assess any plot of land, Canada, U.S., at any time, in just a few minutes.”

Users can select the boundaries of a field they’re interested in and receive a list of crops that have previously been grown there and even estimates for yields of new crops. This is done with satellite imagery and soil and landscape variables.

BioNorth

Chief Business Officer Robert Poulter presented for BioNorth Solutions, a producer of biostimulants, which aims to “clean land and to help the plants and crops grow better on it.”

Poulter said the product has been shown to increase corn production by 13 bushels per acre on corn and 16.5 bushels for soybeans.

Saiwa AI

The next presentation was from Kate Withers of Saiwa AI, a company with the goal of solving the problem of difficult data extraction.

Farmers can upload data like drone videos and the system creates a file “where you can zoom in and out and take a look at what’s happening in your field or your greenhouse in greater detail,” she said. From here, users can generate maps that can be used by their ground sprayer.

Upside Robotics

Upside robotics was next, as CEO and cofounder Jana Tian presented what she described as “little Roombas for corn farmers.”

The company’s autonomous “little cute robot” aims to combat the expensive problem of fertilizer waste.

“What our robot does is essentially the spoon-feeding,” Tian said. “We go into the crops, almost on a weekly basis, and we do small applications of fertilizer into the crops while dropping them right next to the roots.”

She said in trials across Ontario in 2024, the robot has reduced nitrogen rates 50 to 70 per cent.

CredoSense

CredoSense CEO Abdul Halim spoke about how his company is “setting the new standard for plant health diagnostics.”

He described CredoSense as measuring “true” crop health.

“What I mean by ‘true’ is when I go see a doctor, if the doctor looks at me and says, hey, you look pale, you probably have jaundice,” said Halim. “When we say true crop health, we definitely include those proxies plus the bloodwork.”

He referred to it as the only solution on the market that can detect proxies of crop stress as well as the true crop health.

Spornado

Spornado CEO Kristine White also presented on the company’s early alert system, which one an Innovation Award prior to the show on Monday.

For more coverage of Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show 2025, visit our landing page.

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