Farmers gathered at the 2022 Ontario Forage Expo July 14 on the farm of Scott and Darlene Martin and family at St. Jacobs. The Ontario Forage Council and the Waterloo County Soil and Crop Improvement Association hosted the event after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19.

Dry weather forces assessment of southwestern Ontario forage strategies

Timely rains in east should ease concerns about hay availability in that region

Dry weather has affected hay and pasture yields in southwestern Ontario but the impact should be mitigated by a strong hay inventory and some bumper crops in eastern Ontario and Quebec. Ontario Forage Council (OFC) President Terry Nuhn said most areas west of a line running roughly from Toronto to Barrie have been persistently dry. […] Read more

Dry conditions in June and July will have more of an effect on corn than soybeans, but improvements in genetics should help keep yields from dipping drastically.

Give thanks to drought-tolerant corn hybrids

Modern genetics and management should help keep corn yields in the three-digit range despite prolonged dry conditions

Extended dryness is affecting corn and soybean fields across much of Ontario’s main growing regions. Such conditions allow decades of improvements in drought tolerance genetics to shine.  “I remember in 1988, the tap was basically off until early July. It was two months of the driest early season on record,” says Russ Barker, Pioneer sales […] Read more

File photo of a village in northeastern Uganda’s remote Karamoja region. (Guenterguni/iStock/Getty Images)

More than 200 people die as drought ravages northeast Uganda

Kampala | Reuters — More than 200 people have died from hunger this month in northeastern Uganda, where a prolonged drought and rampant insecurity have left more than half a million facing starvation, a local official and a charity worker said. Inhabited by nomadic pastoralists, the semi-arid and remote Karamoja region on the border with […] Read more

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Saskatchewan shores up disaster program for bigger farms

Program extends PDAP aid to higher-revenue farm businesses

Saskatchewan farmers whose operations took damage from storms in April, but whose gross revenues overtopped the maximum for disaster assistance, will now be able to get in on that program. The province on June 16 announced “supplemental relief” via the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program to help farmers who didn’t qualify under PDAP’s usual eligibility rules. […] Read more

File photo of cattle in a Kansas feedlot. (BeyondImages/E+/Getty Images)

Heat, humidity kill at least 2,000 Kansas cattle, state says

Chicago | Reuters — Extreme heat and humidity killed thousands of cattle in Kansas in recent days, the state said, and sizzling temperatures continue to threaten livestock. The deaths add pain to the U.S. cattle industry as producers have reduced herds due to drought and grappled with feed costs that climbed as Russia’s invasion of […] Read more


Fortune Farms lost approximately five per cent of their production trees. Each tree would produce two one-litre bottles of maple syrup each season.

Derecho dealt a heavy blow to beekeepers, maple syrup producers

Extreme weather and climate change could impact insurance in the future

A path of uprooted trees and domino-effect toppling was the result of a Derecho that whipped through Jamie Fortune’s Almonte, Ont.- area maple forests last month.  “Practically, as maple farmers and forest managers, we respect natural forces, but they create danger and a lot of work and expense,” said the owner of Fortune Farms.  On […] Read more

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Environment Canada sees cool summer for Manitoba

MarketsFarm — Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan could be in for a cooler-than-normal summer, according to the latest long-range outlook from Environment Canada. The latest seasonal forecast from the government agency, released Tuesday, calls for a 40 to 80 per cent chance of below normal temperatures from June through August across all of the agricultural regions […] Read more



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Planting progress picking up in Saskatchewan

MarketsFarm — Overall spring planting across Saskatchewan reached 33 per cent complete as of Monday, according to the latest weekly crop report from Saskatchewan Agriculture. Despite the good progress over the week, that’s still 20 points behind the five-year average. When compared to the excellent progress this time last year, the gap expands to 41 […] Read more

Flea beetles in canola seedlings. (Canola Council of Canada video screengrab via YouTube)

Eastern Prairies’ wet conditions may curb insect pest risk

Late-seeded crops may germinate more quickly in warmer soils

MarketsFarm — If there could be one benefit to the excessive moisture across much of southern Manitoba and the Interlake region, that would be a potentially reduced risk for insect pests, according to John Gavloski, entomologist for Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Resource Development. For example, Gavloski cited flea beetles, which could damage canola. “If [canola] […] Read more