Finalists will be selected this spring, with up to two winners to be announced in 2028, who will each receive up to $1 million to scale their solutions.

Leduc, a sheep and beef farmer with a PhD in animal science from Université Laval who completed post-graduate work with McGill and Lactanet, kept running into the same issue: Farmers are being encouraged to adopt best management practices for forages, but few had the data needed to know whether those changes actually worked.

“Forage systems are long-term systems,” he said.

“If you make a mistake in seeding, you might not see the impact for a long time. If you choose the wrong bull, it’s two years before you fully understand the outcome.”

That makes it harder to connect management decisions to results — and even harder to justify change. The core problem, Leduc said, is data.

“In forage systems, data is not collected in a standardized way. Producers want answers right away. But to get analytics, you need data — and in forage, that takes time,” he said, adding this gap limits progress not only on productivity, but also on greenhouse gas reductions.

Enter Mon Système Fourrager, an integrated platform that connects data “from soil to animal,” letting users log and import field management data, harvest information, forage and silage analyses, and observations such as winter survival or stand density.

Leduc also acquired and is modernizing EweManage, a sheep and goat management software program, and is developing Agri-Doc, a module for agronomists to easily log information during farm visits, generate reports required for provincial support programs and transcribe voice notes directly into structured records. The goal is to make data capture faster and less burdensome.

“Data collection is like accounting —rationally, it’s good. Emotionally, it’s boring.”

Maxime Leduc

He is also experimenting with mobile chatbot interfaces that will allow producers to ask questions and receive insights based on their own Excel-based records.

According to Leduc, helping producers measure yields, track forage analyses and link feed quality to animal performance will support more precise feeding strategies that can improve digestibility, reduce methane intensity and increase overall farm efficiency.

Leduc emphasized that practices that reduce emissions often also improve profitability — but only if producers can see and measure the impact.

“You need to recognize you have a problem, know the possible solutions, evaluate them and then monitor the results,” he said.

“Without data, you can’t do that.”

Rather than marketing directly to individual producers one by one, Leduc is focusing on partnerships with forage labs and agronomists who already need to collect and interpret data. If advisers adopt the platform, producers are more likely to follow.

He currently has a few hundred users of his technologies, mostly in Quebec, where he works closely with a network of producers, agronomists, agricultural organizations like the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association, and forage labs.

Next milestones include launching the agronomists’ tool and hopefully advancing to the final round of the methane challenge, which would provide an additional grant of up to $500,000 to support further development and testing of his system. He’s also received funding from Investissement Quebec.

His longer-term vision is straightforward: keep the business viable and help producers become more profitable while reducing their environmental footprint. The forage sector’s future depends on closing the data gap, he says.

“The answer lies in accessing and leveraging the data producers already collect, but don’t use fully,” he said.

The post From soil to stall: the digital platform closing the data gap in methane reduction appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The $12 million challenge was announced last year by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Impact Canada, a federal government initiative to help fund development and adoption of innovative solutions to societal problems like housing, food waste and climate change.

The approach was launched by the federal government several years ago as a way of crowd-sourcing innovation. It is designed to encourage innovators to come forward with their approaches to solving specific problems.

The challenge program is backed by fairly significant funds. The methane reduction challenge, for example, offers two grand prizes of up to $1 million each, with finalists receiving up to $500,000 each.

The 13 semi-finalists, spanning feed, breeding and technology, were selected from 86 applications and will receive approximately $150,000 to move their concepts into the prototype development stage.

A further (up to) $230,000 per semi-finalist will be awarded next spring to those with successful prototypes so they can proceed with testing. Ten finalists will be selected by spring 2026, with the grand prize winners announced in winter 2028.

Two Greater Toronto Area companies, Ample Agriculture and Pond Technologies, are working on feed additives that reduce methane emissions from cattle. Guelph-based Semex is developing a genetic breeding protocol to let farmers select cattle that produce lower methane levels.

Sustainable Bio Security Inc. uses ozone to improve dairy cattle health, and WaterPuris is using extremely small gas bubbles – nanobubbles – and sensors for water treatment.

The 10-member challenge jury includes names familiar to Canada’s livestock sector, like University of Guelph livestock genomics professor Christine Baes, Fawn Jackson from Dairy Farmers of Canada, Cedric McLeod of the Canadian Forage and Grasslands Association, Joy Agnew from Olds College and Reynold Bergen with the Beef Cattle Research Council.

Two other challenges involving agriculture and agri-food have already been completed.

Ecoation from British Columbia was declared the winner of the Deep Space Food Challenge earlier this year for its modular indoor food production system called CANGrow. Designed to operate in remote environments like outer space and northern regions, the system can produce a range of fresh foods, like strawberries, cherry tomatoes and fungal-based meat substitutes.

Another indoor food production system called Goose, from the University of Guelph, was a finalist in the competition.

Two Ontario companies were the grand prize winners of the Food Waste Reduction Challenge, each receiving up to $1 million to continue development and commercialization of their innovations.

Clean Works from St. Catherines has a proprietary system that uses vaporized hydrogen peroxide, ozone and ultraviolet light to control mildew and micro-organism growth in fruits and vegetables before they are harvested.

This can increase produce shelf life by up to 20 per cent, which Clean Works estimates will prevent the waste of almost 50 tonnes of grapes and spinach alone in Canada. It’s also been found to reduce the severity of powdery and downy mildew in grape growing.

Genecis Bioindustries from Toronto has developed a specialized bacteria that transforms food waste into compostable bioplastics that can replace up to 60 per cent of plastic applications, from sunglasses to textiles and grocery bags.

Impact Canada’s challenge initiative spans a range of sectors, including a $75 million cleantech stream with Natural Resources Canada, a Smart Cities program with Infrastructure Canada, a housing stream with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and individual challenges addressing everything from health care in deep space and oil spill response to diabetes prevention and reducing marine plastics.

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The company, VETSon, hopes that by bringing veterinary practices more digital, they might lessen the burden on those practices and make services available to more farmers. Their artificial intelligence-powered virtual healthcare platform, launched by father-son team Glen and Colin Yates, is designed to let veterinarians service more clients and give more animal owners access to care.

The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association now expects 5,000 job openings between 2022 and 2031, and only 4,300 applicants to fill them.

“I grew up watching the challenges in the veterinary industry, especially with the growing shortage of vets in rural areas, so we’ve developed a tool to help veterinary practices cover as many calls as efficiently as possible,” said Colin Yates.

This includes an e-commerce tool where farmers can order livestock medicine directly from their clinic through the app. The product is delivered to the farm. This increases convenience for the farmer, who doesn’t have to work around clinic office hours, and saves the vet from additional paperwork or drop-off on the farm.

Vet clinics sign on to the VETSon service and provide clients with a login. Farmers can then access their veterinarian’s practice digitally, including telemedicine visits and virtual locum services to fill temporary gaps.

Revenue is shared between VETSon and the veterinary practice. There is no change in pricing for farmers if a clinic is using the service, said Yates.

The first practice trialled was his dad’s practice, Slant Road Mobile Veterinary Services.

The younger Yates provides strategic support and helps developers understand the veterinary industry’s needs, with the goal of having technology that is easy for vets and farmers to use.

Response from farmers has been “overwhelming,” with farms from northern British Columbia to Cape Breton trying to access the remote service. The company is actively pursuing expansion across Canada to meet demand.

“We are a revenue-generating company now and we are starting to get traction with clinics. It’s a conservative industry, but we’ve made a conscious effort to work with the College of Veterinarians of Ontario and other regulatory bodies in Canada to give them updates,” Yates says.

“We aren’t trying to work around vet clinics. We are about supporting veterinarians.”

VETSon is also turning heads in the innovation space. It is a graduate of Creative Destruction Lab’s supply chain stream startup program in Montreal and a member of the current cohort of ag-tech startups at Cultivator, an innovation hub based in Saskatchewan led by Conexus Credit Union. VETSon has also been part of Ontario business growth group RH Accelerator since 2022.

“When you’re a startup, it’s all about networking on various levels. These programs help you gain information to educate yourself on how to raise money and practice pitching. That’s an art in itself,” said Yates. “Potential investors can help us scale faster; this is a global issue.”

Most recently, VETSon presented to the European Union’s Working Party of Chief Veterinary Officers, who asked the company to share how it uses telemedicine to ease veterinary strain.

In two years, the company hopes to have an established footprint across Canada, with a global presence in five years.

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That step was the basis of a Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA)-led project at the research station at Simcoe.

“We knew there were a lot of questions about different herbs that people might want to grow, but there’s not a lot of information available,” says Sean Westerveld, ginseng and medical herbs specialist with OMAFRA. “We wanted to showcase the challenges and opportunities and show different principles of herb production through this project.”

How was the research conducted?

A plot of 117 non-traditional crops (140 including different varieties of the same herb) for the health market, including culinary and medicinal herbs, and berry crops was established in spring and early summer 2010. The goal was to illustrate different principles of herb production for both field and forest herbs, and both culinary and medicinal herbs.

The plot features herbs native to every continent except Antarctica, including traditional Chinese, Indian, North American and European herbs. Several old English cottage herbs that are no longer frequently used were also included to illustrate the importance of identifying a market before growing any new crop.

“Our goal was not to promote one crop or variety over another but to provide a showcase of different options,” says Westerveld, explaining that although it was a one-year project, the herbs are still in the ground and observation is ongoing. “This includes looking at what kind of challenges rowers might face with pests or with our winter climate.”

What did the research find?

Many herbs survived the Canadian winter without difficulty, but Westerveld says they weren’t surprised to find some of the non-native varieties weren’t able to handle the climate, showing it’s not possible to grow everything here even if some of the conditions, like soil, are suitable.

They were able to successfully grow plants like eucalyptus and lemon verbena, but others — such as stevia, which has garnered a lot of interest as a natural low-calorie sweetener — were not shown to be a viable crop. Pests were also a challenge and with the exception of some culinary herbs, there are currently no products registered for pest control use on these crops.

“There was no real shining star that emerged from our project and the industry is still small. There are perhaps local niche market opportunities for some of these crops, but no studies have been done yet on this,” says Westerveld, adding that interest in the project has been strong with several hundred people touring the plots at the research station over the last two years, including a large turnout out at a grower open house day in 2011.

One grower who has visited the plots is Tom Benner. He owns Heritage Line Herbs near Aylmer, where his family grows culinary herbs such as parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, basil and oregano. They sell live plants in the spring as well as grow herbs in-field that are dried and processed into seasoning blends and sold across Canada.

“There is a lot of consumer interest in locally grown herbs, especially with respect to their quality and freshness,” says Tom, whose farm’s production is certified organic. “People are always asking us about whether we can grow different things, so we’re always on the lookout for new opportunities. And there are production issues, like pest management, that we need help in addressing too.”

Where can I get more information?

More information on this project can be found online at the Crop Advances section of the OSCIA site. OMAFRA is also working on a new interactive online resource that will provide crop profiles and pest issue information on over 100 speciality crops including fruits, vegetables and grain.

How was the research funded?

Funding for this project was provided by Norfolk Soil and Crop Improvement Association. Additional project support was provided by OSCIA, OMAFRA, University of Guelph, Richters Herbs, Oakland Shading Co., St. Williams Forestry and Ecology Centre, and Dubois Agrinovation Inc. OSCIA assisted with communication of research results.

— Lilian Schaer is a freelance writer and communications project specialist at Guelph, writing on behalf of the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA).

Top tips for farmers

• Not all herbs can be grown in Ontario, whether due to climate or pest issues.
• Determine market potential before starting to grow new crops.
• Herbs have as many pest issues as conventional crops. Think about crop rotation as you do with any other crop.

The post OSCIA: Non-traditional crops may yield health market opportunities appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“About five to 10 per cent of field crop growers use them on a regular basis, but there’s a lot of interest in the benefit they can provide,” says project lead Adam Hayes, soil management specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) at Ridgetown.

“A cover crop can improve the soil, take up or provide nitrogen, help suppress weeds or reduce a nematode population. What you want it to do influences the crop you choose.”

How is the research being conducted?

Post-winter wheat harvest: Two cover crop mixtures — TillageMax Dover (tillage radish and seed oats) and TillageMax Daytona (tillage radish and crimson clover) — plus feed oats were seeded at seven sites in southwestern Ontario.

Into standing grain: Four cover crops — common annual rye grass, Tillage RootMax annual rye grass, feed oats and TillageMax Daytona blend (tillage radish and crimson clover) — were hand seeded into standing grain corn at four sites from the last week of August to the middle of September. One plot was seeded after silage harvest.

What has the project found to date?

Cover crops were harvested in the third and fourth weeks of October last year, and again in November. Those planted post-wheat harvest produced significant growth, with the Dover mixture averaging 3,900 kilograms per hectare and the Daytona plus oats averaging 3,600 kg/hectare. The cover crops planted into standing corn grew sparsely with annual rye grass showing the best growth and establishment. Cover crops planted after corn silage had reasonable growth.

“Seeding depth is one of the challenges with mixes. Planting at the correct depth is important to ensure the cover crop germinates rapidly or even germinates at all,” says Hayes. “In a few instances, cover crop seed was planted one inch or deeper, and although the oats emerged without difficulty, the tillage radish was delayed and often had a reduced stand.”

Chatham-area beef farmer Mike Buis is a participant in the project and although he hasn’t had much success with cover crops in standing corn, he says there are a lot of options after winter wheat. On fields where he can’t graze his cattle, he prefers to use red clover, letting it grow to the top of the wheat stubble before cutting and baling it, and then spraying the regrowth just before freezing.

“Red clover is one that works well year after year. Even after burning the clover off, it gives you good root mass and will hold the soil in place for the winter without a heavy mat lying on top,” he explains.

In grazing fields, Buis avoids clover due to the risk of bloat in his cattle and uses an oats and rye combination instead. The seed is spread on the wheat stubble and disced in with a bit of manure, providing cattle feed for fall or winter and early spring.

“If you use two to three crops in your mix, at least one will always do the job and survive,” he says, adding that he will be including radish in his mix this year to address some soil compaction issues. “If you mix radish with oats and rye and then put cattle out to graze, the radish will break up compaction areas and the rye oats will give you fine roots and cover on top to keep the soil in place.”

Buis has also been involved in the development of a cover crop selector tool with information specific to Ontario conditions, which can be accessed online.

Where can I get more information?

The project is being repeated again in 2013, but more information about results to date can be found online in the Crop Advances section of the OSCIA website.

How was the research funded?

Funding for this project was provided by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) regional partner grant in cooperation with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Southwest Agricultural Conference grant. OSCIA assisted with communication of research results.

— Lilian Schaer is a freelance writer and communications project specialist at Guelph, writing on behalf of the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA).

Adam’s cover crop tips

• Prepare your cover crop plan and order seed early.
• Decide what you want the cover crop to do and what crop diseases are present in your fields before you choose what to plant.
• Consider how you will manage the crop after it’s done – whether frost will kill it off or whether some tillage or herbicide will be needed.
• Make sure you plant your seeds at proper depths. If smaller seeds in your mixture are planted too deep, they won’t come up or may result in a thinner stand or delayed emergence.

The post OSCIA: Cover crop options after winter wheat and into standing corn appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

A project underway in conjunction with researchers from the U.S. is determining which pathogens affect soybean seedlings, and developing diagnostic tools to identify their presence, in hopes of developing better management tools for farmers.

“Understanding which specific pathogens make up the seedling disease complex, and the factors that enhance the damage they cause will increase our understanding of seedling diseases and help develop better management strategies,” says Albert Tenuta, field crops program lead with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF).

Next to soybean cyst nematode, seedling diseases — including oomycetes such as Pythium spp. and Phytophthora sojae, and fungi such as fusarium and rhizoctonia — are the No. 2 yield-limiting diseases in Ontario soybean production.

How is the research being conducted?

In 2012, Ontario researchers began participating in two U.S research projects, one by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the other by the United Soybean Board (USB), which were launched in 2011. To date, 120 isolates of fungal pathogens have been collected in Ontario from a wide range of environments, soils and cropping histories. These are now being analyzed with additional samples being collected in 2013.

This unique collaboration with U.S. researchers allows a more regional approach to fighting pathogens and lets experts on both sides of the border pool their knowledge and stretch limited resources.

What has the project found to date?

“This year has been ideal for many of the seedling diseases for soy and corn. Last year we found nine different pythiums in soy, more than I expected,” says Tenuta. “Many thrive under different environmental conditions and we’re seeing how the species are starting to adapt. They all have their particular niche and will affect stand establishment.”

For George Kotulak, who farms in the Leamington area, keeping new pathogens in check is important and he offered up his fields for testing as part of the project.

“They’ve been doing some sampling and looking at different types of diseases in the area. We have plants and land available for them to test, to help things along,” he says. “They’re looking for diseases we might not have anywhere else and how to deal with those to try to keep them under control.”

New technology that is now available, such as molecular tools, is allowing for faster and more accurate identification of the pathogens. Tenuta says they’ve developed some new assays for rapid identification and are working on tools that can be used in-field as well. If problems can be identified, new tools can be developed to manage them, he adds.

Where can I get more information?

More information on this project can be found online in the Crop Advances section of the OSCIA website.

How was the research funded?

Investment in this two-year project was obtained by Grain Farmers of Ontario through the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program. In Ontario this program is administered by the Agricultural Adaptation Council. OSCIA assisted with communication of research results.

— Lilian Schaer is a freelance writer and communications project specialist at Guelph, writing on behalf of the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA).

Albert’s advice

• Scout for problems. Know what’s going on in your fields with respect to stand problems and weeds.
• Take action. Management tools include proper seed treatments, selecting different varieties or using fungicides.
• “Understanding what pathogens you have that make up your disease complex is important — it can lead to better management of your crop.” — Albert Tenuta, OMAF field crop lead

The post OSCIA: Managing soybean seedling diseases can cut production costs appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“We were initially thinking we would find mostly new diseases and we did, but at relatively low levels,” says pathologist Albert Tenuta, field crops program lead with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food at Ridgetown. “We found the older diseases to be quite prominent, ones that we haven’t been paying as much attention to and that have gone under the radar as endemic issues in production.”

How was the research conducted?

Researchers surveyed 18 alfalfa fields across southern Ontario using traditional field sampling, processing and mycological culturing to determine the distribution of fungal diseases in fields with typical alfalfa yellowing symptoms. They also tested new molecular technologies for crop disease identification, developed by Andre Levesque at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Ottawa, to evaluate their suitability for forage crops.

What has the project found to date?

Emerging alfalfa diseases include aphanomyces root rot (race 2) and brown root rot, and although the survey found these in Ontario, Tenuta says older, more established diseases were present in unexpectedly high numbers. In particular, a large number of fusarium species were found in more than half the samples taken, which could indicate potential changes in fusarium diversity in the province.

“Many of these older diseases can have a real negative impact on root health, forage quality and productivity,” he explains. “We’ve made great progress in developing new varieties, but we have to also remember that some of those older challenges are still there. What we’re seeing here is ‘what is old is new again.'”

The presence of aphanomyces root rot (race 2) in the province was confirmed using a new greenhouse differential test and Tenuta says the diagnostic capacity of these new molecular identification tools will allow for earlier detection, quicker sampling of grower fields and plant samples, and help breeders identify new lines with potential resistance. Although alfalfa was used as the first commodity-based study of this new technology, it could be applied to other crops as well. As a result of its success in alfalfa, AAFC Ottawa will be looking at other crops like cereals in 2013.

One farmer who knows the value of good quality forage to his growing hay business is John Schaer. He grows 150 acres of forage crops, including alfalfa, on his farm near Hanover in southern Grey County.

“There is definitely an increasing demand for good quality hay,” says John. “If you are going to grow a good crop, it’s important to know what diseases are out there that might affect your quality so that you can get the best return.”

Forage is already a significant part of Canada’s agricultural economy. According to the Ontario Forage Council, it was the third largest crop in terms of income generated at the farm level in 2011 and supported $50 billion in direct and indirect economy activity across the country.

Where can I get more information? More information on this project can be found in Crop Advances online.

How was the research funded? Funding for this project was provided by Growing Forward, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Agricultural Adaptation Council assists in the delivery of several Growing Forward programs in Ontario. OSCIA assisted with communication of research results.

— Lilian Schaer is a freelance writer and communications project specialist at Guelph, writing on behalf of the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA).

Key project tips

• Be vigilant. Monitor your crop and be aware of what’s happening in your fields.
• Take action. If you notice something unusual, dig up a few plants and look at the roots – there are many things below ground that can affect productivity of your alfalfa crop.
• Select appropriate varieties. Look at the specific conditions in your area and pick varieties that are suited that environment.

The post OSCIA: Disease awareness can improve alfalfa yield, quality appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“We’ve seen a really significant increase in corn yields since we originally developed the corn calculator, so we want to see how it works when we’re in that high-yield range,” explains Stewart. “Generally, it works well, but does it perform when you have yields of 200 bushels per acre and higher?”

Using the current tool, growers can calculate how much nitrogen to put on their corn to generate the highest yield. Stewart is also looking at how N recommendations can be fine-tuned using real-time data like weather and soil N levels.

How is the research being conducted?

Experiments were carried out on six sites in 2011 and 2012 using seven different treatment combinations at each site. These included no nitrogen except starter fertilizer, four different pre-plant-only application rates of 50, 100, 150 and 200 pounds of N per acre, one split application (100 lbs. N per acre pre-plant and 50 lbs. side-dress) and a side-dress only application of 150 lbs. per acre. Several nitrogen management tools were evaluated for their ability to predict optimum nitrogen rates.

What has the project found to date?

So far, says Stewart, the corn calculator’s static recommendations for nitrogen application are fairly accurate but the weather ended up being a big factor in project outcomes to date. The first two project years were both very extreme — 2011 was cool with a wet spring that delayed corn planting and 2012 was hot and dry with a very early spring.

“In 2011, using only our corn calculator, we would have underestimated the amount of nitrogen needed, whereas in 2012, we overestimated, so the weather really needs to be taken into account if you’re going to do better than just a sit-down estimate,” says Stewart, adding that a soil nitrate test is a more reliable indicator than just looking at the leaves themselves.

The majority of Ontario farmers put nitrogen down before planting corn, says Stewart, with only 20 to 25 per cent side dressing in the knee-high stage. In order to capture the influence of the spring weather, it’s important not to apply all the nitrogen before planting; instead, put down a more moderate amount and then evaluate the weather and the soil before making decisions on any further application.

Cash cropper Ken Nixon, who farms north of London near Ilderton, is hosting some plot trials on his farm for the project. His applied nitrogen rate for maximum economic returns in 2011 was higher than he expected based on a combination of the corn calculator and his own experience on those fields. By contrast, using the same approach in 2012, his most economic nitrogen rates were significantly less that he had estimated.

“In 2011, the highest nitrogen application rate on our plots was 150 pounds per acre and our maximum yield was somewhere north of that. We never did uncover what the correct rate of N was, except we knew 150 lbs. wasn’t enough,” he says.

“In 2012, we didn’t want to repeat the same mistake, so added a 200-lb. treatment and had yields almost as good as 2011, but our rate of maximum economic return of nitrogen was about 90 lbs. per acre. Weather swings like this may be more part of our future going ahead so we may have to account for this somehow in our estimates.”

More information on this project can be found in Crop Advances. This project was funded by Grain Farmers of Ontario, with additional project support from the University of Guelph, John Deere and Premier Equipment in Elmira. OSCIA assisted with communication of research results.

— Lilian Schaer is a freelance writer and communications project specialist at Guelph, writing on behalf of the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA).

Nitrogen tips for high-yielding corn

• Make an in-season adjustment to nitrogen application instead of putting it all down before planting.
• Use a soil N-test to get a real-time reading of a field’s nitrogen levels.
• Consider the influence of the weather on the corn’s nitrogen needs.

-Greg Stewart, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food

The post OSCIA: Weather key in N recommendations for high-yield corn appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

"These surveys help give us a benchmark and assist in minimizing risks and losses to Ontario and Canadian corn production from diseases and pests," says pathologist Albert Tenuta, field crops program lead with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).

"We’re always on the lookout for new endemic diseases or new invasive pests so we can help maintain productivity and quality — and with that, maintain the viability of the industry."

How was the research conducted? OMAFRA, in conjunction with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Ottawa corn breeding program, has been surveying Ontario and Quebec to identify and record the distribution and severity of various corn diseases and insect pests already present, as well as any that may be new. In 2011, 120 fields in Ontario and 45 in Quebec were surveyed. The survey is being repeated in 2012.

What did the survey find? Northern leaf blight, the most common leaf disease in Canada in 2011, showed spread to more areas in Ontario and Quebec. In fact, 95 per cent of fields surveyed showed northern leaf blight. Certain strains may be starting to bypass some of the resistance genes that are available in many commercial corn hybrids.

Gray leaf spot continues to spread in Ontario each year. It has become epidemic in southern Ontario as the predominant leaf disease in many fields. Common smut infection, especially on seed corn fields in Southern Ontario, was frequent, as was head smut, found in eastern Ontario and Quebec.

So far, Goss’s wilt, a pathogen that continues to spread in the U.S. Corn Belt, and has recently been confirmed in Michigan and Indiana, has yet to be found in Ontario.

"When it comes to seed corn or commercial production, Ontario can compete with anybody in the world on high yield and high quality," says Tenuta. "That’s a testament to growers, companies, government extension and everyone working together to maintain the viability and economic development of this industry."

Results from the first two years of the survey are available in the Crop Advances report attached here. Outcomes from the 2012 crop year will be available in February 2013.

The research project was funded in part through the Farm Innovation Program, a federal- provincial-territorial initiative, and by Seed Corn Growers of Ontario, Dow (Hyland Seeds), Maizex, Pioneer Hi-Bred and Pride Seeds. OSCIA assisted with communication of research results.

Three things growers should know about corn pests and diseases

Know what’s out there. Having an understanding of what the diseases and pest insects are out there can help breeders ensure the best genetics are available to reduce potential losses.

Every field is different. Every field is unique and should be dealt with on an individual basis; there is no single method that will work across all corn acres.

Anticipate change. What might work this year may not work the next. Consider the long-range weather forecasts but also know your field histories to make sure you act accordingly when it comes to variety selection, residue management, crop rotation, seed treatment and crop protection.

— Lilian Schaer, a Guelph agricultural writer and editor, wrote this article on behalf of the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association. A version of this article appeared in the Sept. 17, 2012 eastern edition of Country Guide.

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