Search
Better Farming OntarioBetter PorkBetter Farming Prairies

Better Farming Ontario Featured Articles

Better Farming Ontario magazine is published 11 times per year. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Behind the Lines - August/September 2009

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

It's now debatable whether Rome, anxious to finish off an old Imperial rival, actually ordered its soldiers to sow the fields with salt around the razed city of Carthage so that nothing would grow at the end of the third Punic wars in 146 BC. Certainly, it has been known for many centuries that salt and crop growing don't mix.

Salt washed or blown off roads into fields and orchards is the topic of this month's cover story by writer Mary Baxter, starting on page 14. While it's mostly an issue where delicate horticultural crops are grown in the Niagara area, salt damage to field crops has been reported in other areas of the province, particularly where commuter traffic is heavy.

Road salting is certainly toxic, but it gets an exemption under provincial pollution laws if there is runoff. Keeping highways open and safe by clearing them chemically of snow and slush is a priority in high traffic areas. With populations growing in urban centres around western Ontario in particular, and winter storms becoming more violent and unpredictable, we can expect reports of salt damage to crops to increase.

In October, in our environment issue we will continue with our annual series about sewage spills and bypasses from municipalities. We began this reporting in 2000 at a time when hog farms were being vilified and a majority of the population seemed unaware or unwilling to acknowledge that the problem was bigger than just pig farms and included human waste.

The topic has since received a lot of urban media coverage in early summer as an organization called Ecojustice, formerly known as the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, published its report on spills and bypasses in 2006 and 2007, entitled "Flushing out the Truth." Cities have some catching up to do in dealing with their overloaded and antiquated sewage systems and urban media still have some catching up to do in writing about it.

Waste, whether human or livestock, is certainly a divisive subject that generally separates along urban and agriculture lines. It's not the most highly charged subject we've brought you over the years, however. Climate change takes that prize.

On that theme in this issue, our Stateside writer, Alan Guebert, challenges one climate change denier to think of how his grandchildren will feel if he's wrong.

"If I'm wrong, my grandchildren will curse my name," is the sobering response. Alan's column appears on page 77.

And on page 74 our veteran weather writer, Henry Hengeveld, explains the impact contrails (those vapour trails left by jet planes) have on climate change.

Robert Irwin & Don Stoneman
 

Current Issue

May 2025

Better Farming Magazine

Farms.com Breaking News

How will Carney work with Farmers?

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Prime Minister Carney has a mandate to lead the country, but the country is quite divided, and much of the agriculture industry feels alienated. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre have both pledged cooperation on key issues like U.S. tariffs. As the new... Read this article online

Sheep farmers win Ontario’s Outstanding Young Farmers

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Sheep farmers and wool producers from Wallenstein, Ont. are Ontario’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2025. “It’s great to be recognized by your peers in the industry with an award like that,” Ryan Schill told Farms.com. “When we started the sheep farm, there were people questioning us... Read this article online

Support IPM With a Bench Sponsorship

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

The International Plowing Match & Rural Expo (IPM) Local Committee has launched the Bench Sponsorship Project for the upcoming 2025 event in West Niagara. This initiative invites individuals and businesses to sponsor commemorative benches for $500 each, helping enhance the visitor... Read this article online

New board members for Ontario Pork

Friday, April 25, 2025

Ontario Pork, an association representing the 1,898 pork farms that market 5.9 million hogs in the province, has announced its new board lineup for 2025. As a Guelph, Ontario-headquartered organization, Ontario Pork is engaged in the areas of research, government representation,... Read this article online

BF logo

It's farming. And it's better.

 

a Farms.com Company

Subscriptions

Subscriber inquiries, change of address, or USA and international orders, please email: subscriptions@betterfarming.com or call 888-248-4893 x 281.


Article Ideas & Media Releases

Have a story idea or media release? If you want coverage of an ag issue, trend, or company news, please email us.

Follow us on Social Media

 

Sign up to a Farms.com Newsletter

 

DisclaimerPrivacy Policy2025 ©AgMedia Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Back To Top