Local specialist on the importance of good prep work in the field
By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
HALDIMAND—Producing a successful harvest is no easy feat. In fact, it’s a year-long job – one punctuated by a daunting preparation process that, if implemented poorly, can impact the bottom-line once harvest season arrives.
We spoke with local seed specialist Aaron McQueen of AA Crop Co. about the work a successful farmer must do during the spring season and some of the challenges local farmers are facing as the 2022 season ramps up.
Aaron McQueen
“Most people do not realize that preparation for the following growing season begins once harvest wraps up in the fall,” said McQueen. “Seed is ordered in November to allow seed companies time to condition and distribute the correct quantities before spring.”
Farmers typically spend January and February making crop plans for the year and learning about new information from the industry.
“Ontario has several very good conferences during this time that allows knowledge to be shared by researchers and other farmers. The winter is utilized to maintain equipment in order to minimize any down time in season.”
According to McQueen, March is typically spent finishing up equipment maintenance and finalizing adjustments to crop plans, such as tweaking the amount of acreage to be planted for each of the season’s crops. April often involves taking delivery of all or a portion of spring inputs, such as seed, fertilizer, and crop protection chemicals.
HALDIMAND—Growing a successful crop takes a lot of seed. Shown here are pallets of seed at AA Crop Co. ready to be shipped out for this spring planting season.
“In this current climate of supply chain issues, we try to get as many of these items on farm well before the growing season,” said McQueen. He added about supply issues: “This is becoming increasingly more evident every week; everything from equipment parts to fertilizer. This is especially concerning in agriculture, as we only have one shot to grow a crop for the year. It is not like we can shut down for a month and plant corn in July when fertilizer becomes available; that simply does not work.”
He said that the whole industry, including both farmers and suppliers, are working together closely to plan for and limit supply issues as much as possible.
Farmers are also keenly paying attention to the weather throughout April, waiting for opportunities where it is dry enough to fertilize and spray. McQueen says that, often, those ideal conditions may only stick around for a day or two before the next rain comes along, and missing those opportunities can cause unwanted delays in the prep process.
“Once May 1 comes you better have everything in tip top shape and ready to roll, including both your equipment and inputs. With Haldimand clay, the ideal planting window is very narrow, typically 5-10 days. In that period of time, the ground goes from too wet to too hard, so you must be able to execute planting efficiently and quickly,” said McQueen. “We like to plant as early in May as the ground allows, but sometimes in a wet year we cannot start until June.”
When it comes to making predictions about the coming season, he said, “I have never had much faith in long-term forecasting. We had a magnificent spring last year, so I don’t anticipate getting that lucky two years in a row. Regardless of the weather we get, there is an abnormally high workload this spring.”
McQueen called last summer and fall historically wet: “This meant that hardly any winter wheat was planted, so more acres of spring crops need to be planted than typical this year. On top of that the wet fall also meant many fields were rutted during harvest and will require tillage this spring. Tillage takes a significant amount of time, so this spring there will be extra hours in the tractor accomplishing all the field work.”
Despite the challenges farmers may be facing this year, McQueen is certain local farmers will be able to weather the storm: “Our goal every day is to continue to supply food for Canada and the world, even when bumps in the road arise.”
