Grain Farmers establish research priorities

by DAVE PINK

The wheat, corn and soybean farmers of Ontario identified seven immediate priorities in a recent survey, said Grain Farmers of Ontario chief executive Barry Senft — so the GFO and the federal government announced in Guelph on Tuesday they would put up a combined $1.2 million to find answers.

“We need to put our efforts into science and research and development to meet the needs of a growing world population,” said Michael Chong, the Conservative MP for the Guelph area riding of Wellington-Halton Hills, who announced the government’s $850,000 share of funding for the research to be delivered through the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program. “What’s been somewhat worrisome is that the increase in crop yields in recent years has not been as great as the increases we were getting in the 1950s and ’60s.”

Photo: Michael Chong

The money will be used to address issues ranging from crop yields to pest management. The focus will be on some of Ontario’s agricultural success stories — farmers who have been able to achieve significantly higher yields than at other farms — to find out why. Work has already started on some of these projects.

“We’re looking for applicable solutions to real farm issues,” said Senft. “Every year we do a survey of our members. We ask what we should be doing in research and then we prioritize the issues.”

One of the projects will focus on the development of plant resistance to the many diseases, and the fungicide applications, that can affect wheat. It will be led by Lily Tamburic-Ilincic from the University of Guelph's Ridgetown campus. Fusarium head blight, which is caused by a fungus, is one of the greatest concerns among wheat farmers. It not only affects crop yield and quality, but also the mycotoxins in the harvested wheat could affect human health.

Another project will assess strategies for sulphur application and the impact on wheat gluten. Sulphur is a critical soil nutrient and, ironically, worldwide efforts to reduce air pollution have reduced the amount of sulphur that is deposited on farmland. Sulphur must now be applied to crops at the farm, but the levels of application will depend on genetics, the growing location and the environmental conditions. This project is being led by Koushik Seetharaman of the University of Guelph and Peter Johnson, of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Greg Stewart and Horst Bohner, both of OMAFRA, will lead an evaluation study of starter fertilizer advancements for corn and soybeans.

Another study aims to identify the key physical, chemical and microbial indicators in the soil that affect the root health of corn, which can result in a wide variance of corn yields. Soil management practices have led to startling improvements in yield –– at least one Ontario farm. The lead researcher will be George Lazarovitz of A&L Biologicals.

The move in recent years to eliminate or reduce the amount of field tillage may have had the unintended consequence of allowing nematodes to thrive. Albert Tenuta of OMAFRA will lead a study into the best nematode control practices for corn and soybeans.

A team from Ridgetown college, including Art Schaafsma, David Hooker, Victor Limay-Rios and Jocelyn Smith, will do a detailed study of the relationship between insect damage and mycotoxin accumulation in grain corn. The damage caused to the ears by feeding insects may open the door to infection by micro-organisms, which can significantly affect the quality and value of the corn crop.

New attention will be focused on disease management in soybean seedlings and the quality of soybean seeds. Farmers have traditionally overplanted soybeans to compensate for an expected die-off of seedlings, but the rising cost of seed makes this practice economically impractical. Albert Tenuta of OMAFRA is leading this study. BF