Nitrogen leaf spray unveiled

 

Tidal Grow AgriScience has announced a nitrogen product that can be sprayed on leaves to boost yields of canola, corn and wheat.

The company said the technology results in maximum crop uptake of 18-0-0 fertiluizer.

“Canadian growers now have a new way to protect their precious fertilizer investments,” said Norm Davy, president and chief commercial officer for Tidal Grow AgriScience.

The company said trials it conducted indicate wheat yields can be increased by 22 per cent and canola by 10 per cent and improve net returns by $15 to $35 per acre.

                  

AGCO sales, profits slump

 

AGCO reported a 10 per cent decline in tractor sales and 27 per cent decline for combines in North America last year.

In dollars, sales in North America were down by 7.8 per cent,

But Eric Hansolia put a brave face in the financial report, saying “AGCO delivered strong fourth quarter results . . .”, reduced dealer inventories and gained market share.

Sales were also down in its divisions for Brazil and Western Europe.

The outlook for this year is for production and sales to hold steady.

Strychnine denied registration

 Grain Growers of Canada is disappointed that the Pest Management Regulatory Agency has denied emergency use registration for two per cent liquid strychnine to Alberta and Saskatchewan and is seeking a reconsideration.

Grain growers in Alberta and Saskatchewan wanted to use it to rid fields of gophers that are destroying crops.

Grain Growers of Canada said it recognizes the importance of strong environmental and health protections, but said the Pest Management Regulatory Agency should also ground its decisions in sound science and reflect on-farm realities.

“Farmers are responsible stewards of the land and depend on practical, effective pest-management tools to maintain sustainable production and protect Canada’s food supply.” Grain Growers of Canada said.

It said the application included enhanced stewardship measures, targeted application windows, and additional safeguards to mitigate risks to non-target species. 

It said that by rejecting this request, the current regulatory approach disregards both on-farm realities and the need to maintain agricultural competitiveness and food system resilience.

In its request for reconsideration, it noted that there is a Prime Minister’s initiative to make regulations more sensitive to the needs of the economy.

 

                         

 

Land market cooled

The red-hot market for farm land cooled off last year, according to the annual report from Valco Consultants.

Ryan Parker, who wrote the report, said some farms listed for sale did not find a buyer, particularly south-west of London and along the shore of Lake Erie.

He said some of that is sellers asking for prices that were too high and another part was lower profits from crops.

Prices remain highly variable by location.

His report said:

• $27, 258 – average per acre value across all 11 counties in 2025 compared with $6,000 in 2010.
• $38,000 – average per acre value in Perth and Oxford.
• $20,000 – average per acre value in Essex County.
• 10.7 per cent – average annual value change from 2010 to 2025.
• 2.7 per cent – overall value increase from 2024 to 2025.

Kimberly Earls heads Rural Ontario Institute

 

Kimberly Earls heads Rural Ontario Institute

 

Kimberly Earls has been chosen executive director of the Rural Ontario Institute.

She has worked in the business community in Norfolk County and served on a number of provincial and federal advisory boards.

She has a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Western Ontario and teaches at Fanshawe College.

She takes over from Gabe Ferguson who has been acting executive director.

Farmers’ confidence shaken

 

Farmers’ confidence is being shaken by lower profits, according to the monthly survey conducted by Purdue to calculate its Ag Economy Barometer.

Farm sentiment dropped sharply in January – by 23 points to 113.

Half of the farmers said their financial conditions have worsened from a year ago and 30 per cent believe things will worsen this year.

Producers reported worsening financial conditions compared to a year ago, with half indicating operations were worse off. Thirty percent expect Operating loans are rising, often due to carryover debt from prior years, signaling increasing financial pressure, the report said.

Concerns about U.S. agricultural exports also grew, particularly for soybeans, with competition from Brazil weighing heavily on producers.

Five named to Hall of Fame

 

Five people will be added to the Ontario Agriculture Hall of Fame in June.

They are Senator Rob Black, Scott Graham, Brian O’Connor, and the late Dr. Helen Fisher and the late Percy Hodgetts.

Black is chairman of the Senate’s committee on agriculture. He was named a senator after serving as the founding chief executive officer of the Rural Ontario Institute, program director for the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program and transitioning 4-H Ontario into an independent charitable organization.

O’Connor is EastGen’s founding general manager which he helped create by merging Gencor with Eastern Breeders Inc. 

At Gencor he set up Gencor Foods to take over a Kitchener beef-packing plant to provide a market for cull cows which were banned from their traditional markets in the United States because bovine spongiform encephalopathy turned up in Alberta. He also used EastGen to support the revival of Thornloe Cheese. Both businesses subsequently folded.

Scott Graham was chairman of Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board and was instrumental in developing an egg quality assurance program and a quota transfer system. He became a marketing board director when his father retired.

Dr. Helen Fisher helped Ontario grape growers to transition vineyards from labrusca to vinifera grapes which have earned an international reputation for wine excellence.

Percy Hodgetts spent 41 years at Ontario’s Department of Agriculture and 35 as the first director of the Ontario Fruit Branch, transforming household orchards into a thriving commercial industry. He was Ontario’s first specialized apiarist and entomologist and he establishment the Horticultural Experimental Station at Vineland.

He standardized box packing, cold-storage infrastructure, and “Big O” brand, conducted many training programs, provided growers with vital knowledge and laid a strong foundation for the industry’s resilience and adaptability even during the Great Depression of the 1930s.