By Brandon Dietrich, President Grey SCIA
After a very, let us say “interesting” spring season in the crop industry, we can now look forward to the rest of the growing season and watching our crops grow. From rising input costs and crop prices, to a slow start to the season in April making for a very busy May, I am sure the spring of 2022 is one we will not soon forget. I commend everyone for navigating through these challenges. Whether you were the person doing the planting, fixing equipment, providing seed and fertilizer, or making meals and looking after the kids, you should all be very proud of what you have accomplished this spring. Writing this in early June I can say that the crops look to be off to as good a start as ever!
Your Grey County SCIA has been hard at work planning some events for this summer. With the success of the virtual crop walks the past two years, we will once again be hosting a virtual tour this year focusing on winter canola. The date of this virtual crop walk will be June 22. Also, as we near the end of the pandemic, we are excited to be able to bring back our traditional in-person crop walk this summer. The date of the crop walk will be Friday July 15th and it will be held in the Ravenna/Meaford areas. The morning will be a tour of field crops at the farm of the McKinlay family, and the afternoon will be a tour of Sandy Creek apple orchard. A big thanks to James, Joan and Robert McKinlay and Ian Furlong for opening their operations for our tour. Watch your email for more information on the crop walk.
Something new that Grey SCIA is doing this year is a county wide research project. We have a handful of growers that will be doing a replicated trial in corn looking at new biological nitrogen fixation products. We will have the results from this project be presented at the AGM this winter. We hope to make this project an annual thing, so if you are interested in taking part in coming years or have ideas for research topics, please get in touch with a Grey SCIA director.
After a busy spring season, I hope you can take some time to enjoy the warm summer weather with your family and friends. Hopefully we will see you at the virtual event on June 22 and the in-person event on July 15.