Crop Variety Trials: 2015 Canola Report

Ten acres of canola were grown in 2015 with a grower co-operator near Echo Bay. Bayer CropScience provided seed for variety InVigor L130. Previous crop was a long-term hay field. Canola was planted the first week in June and harvested September 24th. No additional nutrients were applied to the crop. Dry yield (tons/acre) 0.957 Moisture (%) 9.4 Grade 1.0 Unit …

Profitable Pastures 2016 – Conference Call in Algoma

Theme: The Art of Good Pasture Management – “It Really Works!” Algoma District Services Administration Board Head Office Downstairs Boardroom 1 Collver Road Thessalon Wednesday, March 9th from 10:00am – 3:00pm $20.00 per person, includes lunch. This years’ keynote speaker is Juan Alvez.  Juan comes from a two – generation pasture – based family farm in Rivera, Uruguay. He obtained …

Treating Grass like a Crop

Feed costs are a large expense on a livestock operation. Well managed pasture is the cheapest feed source for livestock. Managing grass with yield in mind is comparable to growing field crops. Cash croppers think about: Crop/variety selection Nutrient management Weed control By assessing if your pasture contains plants that can meet your livestock’s forage needs, planning how to supply …

Testing Cross-seeding of Hay and Pasture: Call for Interested Farmers!

RAIN is looking for farmer co-operators interested in testing cross-seeding as a method of establishing hay or pasture for spring of 2016. The landowner must be either planting a new pasture/hay field or be rejuvenating an established field by re-seeding. The project aims to assess whether cross-seeding is an economically viable technique for Algoma farmers. It uses the same amount …

2016 Agriculture & Food Symposium

Tools for Resilience The third annual RAIN Agriculture & Food Symposium will be held at the Bruce Station Community Hall Friday, February 5th and Saturday, February 6th, 2016. This year’s symposium will focus on three distinct areas related to longevity and resilience on and within your farm: – Succession Planning and budgeting with Len Davies – Testing Feasibility of New …

Confronting Climate Change and Seasonal Variability

Climate variability is considered as a combination of the long-term year-to-year changes in weather patterns, precipitation amounts, and average temperatures. While there are several reasons as to why these environmental factors fluctuate, there are numerous management practices that can be employed by Algoma farmers to increase the environmental and productive stability on their properties. How to prepare for variability and …

Keyline Subsoiling: What, Why, and How

Keyline ploughing is a straightforward agricultural technique developed in the 1950s to help Australian farms better manage water on their lands. Keyline ploughing is a specific pattern of topographical sub-soiling used to better distribute water across the land. There are two components to the keyline technique of land management: the plough itself, and the applied subsoiling design. Algoma farmers can …

SouthWest Agricultural Conference 2016 Webcast

Wednesday, January 6th, 2015. 9:00am to 5:00pm. “The Southwest Agricultural Conference is one of Ontario’s premier agricultural educational conferences. The conference began 75 years ago as “Farmers Week” providing producers in Southwestern Ontario with educational information.The conference attracts expert agricultural industry speakers and researchers from across North America.  Internationally respected agricultural leaders address topics ranging from field crop management to …

The Importance of Herd Breeding and Genetics

By paying attention to herd animal biology, farmers in the Algoma region can improve the overall quality of their animals and agricultural businesses over the years. Managing livestock through controlled breeding practices offers farmers a means to save money over the winters and improve their farms efficiency. In this research note, we explore the husbandry advantages for the better management …