Tis' the Season

Tis' the season, which got me thinking about a different type of farming.

Christmas tree farming is big business in Ontario. A 2001 report stated that there were 8808 hectares planted to Christmas Tree production and annual revenue is $8.3 million in Ontario. The Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario is a non-profit organization that is funded by it's farmers to expand business in Ontario. It's main goal is to educate its growers to in turn grow higher quality product that will maintain prices and consumer loyalty to Ontario grown trees. The organization provides this through correspondence courses, field days and an annual meeting.

Just like growing a field of corn, there are lots of the same decisions to be made when growing Christmas trees. Soil Type, drainage, climate, site preparation, layout, variety selection, seedling quality, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides are all things to be considered. However, you'll get your chance to harvest your crop of corn the same year you plant it, with Christmas trees you have 10 long years to wait.

But over those ten years, those trees are doing wonderful things for our environment. Christmas tree farming is the second most environmentally friendly crop production there is, second to a cultivated woodlot. In one year, one Christmas tree can remove up to 13MT of pollutants from the air and release Oxygen back out. And since harvest can only occur after 10 years, most Christmas tree farms only harvest 10% of the farm yearly.

Ontario Christmas Tree growers have a lot of things in common with grain producers. To purchase and apply crop protection products, they must also have a Grower Pesticide Certificate. They pay yearly membership dues to their organization and lobby the government on export issues. They face the same challenges with weather, invading pests and volatile markets.

For more info you can check out the Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario website at:
http://www.christmastrees.on.ca/ctfo/new-grower-information.html

Merry Christmas!

Winter Meetings

The next few months are prime time for winter meetings and events, and you should take advantage of it! Here are a few dates to mark on you calendar.

Southwest Agricultural Conference

The 19th annual SWAC will be held on Jan 4th and 5th 2012 in Ridgetown. You can choose to go one or both days. Eight 50 minute sessions are held each day and you choose the sessions you want to attend. Topics that caught my eye include "Fertilizer Hot Buttons", "Market Outlook 2012", "Wheat, The Next Big Step" and "Disease Dilemmas". Also, each day there is a Featured Speaker at 1pm. The speaker on Jan 4th is Dr. Patrick Moore who has gone from co-founding Green Peace to a more "sensible" environmental approach - should be interesting! The complete registration package can be found at:

http://www.southwestagconference.ca/

Grower Pesticide Safety Course

If your Grower Pesticide Certification has expired, or you will be purchasing pesticides next season but are not certified, you will need to attend the Grower Pesticide Safety Course. A complete schedule of courses and locations offered is found at the link below:

http://www.opep.ca/index.cfm/courseexam-schedule-dates/

Grain Farmers of Ontario March Classic

An annual event, the GFO March Classic is continually growing year after year. Although the speakers have not yet been released, the GFO promises "speakers from around the globe discussing issues of trade, world markets, and new opportunities."
More information can be found at the link below:

http://www.gfo.ca/marchclassic.aspx

Western Fair Farm Show

The Western Fair Farm show will be held on March 7-9. This year there will be 250,000 square feet of show to see!

http://www.westernfairdistrict.com/events/attend/western_fair_farm_show

The New Bug in Town

Over the past year, there has been some chatter in the industry about a new insect arriving in Ontario. It's big, it smells, it could invade you home in the winter and eat your crops in the summer and right now we have nothing to control it.

The Brown Marmorated Stinkbug (BMSB) arrived from Asia in Pennsylvania about 15 years ago. Since then it has spread to 33 states and has been found in shipments of imported goods destined to Canada. It has no known natural enemies in North America.

BMSB has over 100 host plants in North America - tree fruits, berries, vegetables, field crops (including corn,soys and edible beans), and trees and shrubs. It overwinters in shelters such as houses and barns. In Pennsylvania, where the populations are high there are reports of home attics with tens of thousands of BMSB found. Although they will not bite or sting humans, they will omit a foul odour when disturbed.

The BMSB can be distinguished from other stink bugs by its size (up to 17mm), smooth thorax and two white bands on its antenna.

Photo Credit: Perdue

Collaboration between numerous Canadian and American governmental agencies is occurring as currently there is no know chemical or biological control of the BMSB. Also, there are numerous surveys and trapping projects occurring to monitor for any invasion of the BMSB into Ontario. It is estimated that the BMSB caused $37 million damage to the mid Atlantic states apple crop last year. It is however producing a spin off economy for some resourceful inventors. Homeowners in some states have been so overrun with the BMSB in their homes that some have taken to inventing and marketing traps to control or remove the BMSB.

With careful monitoring and collaboration, hopefully we can stay on top of the BMSB and find some measures of control before it becomes an epidemic. You can help too. If you think you have found a BMSB, place it in an airtight container and freeze to kill it. You can take it to any OMAFRA or CFIA office or the University of Guelph to have it identified and logged.

Post includes info found at:

http://www.marylandstinkbugs.com/home/

http://bautebugblog.com/

http://www.omaf.gov.on.ca/english/crops/hort/news/hortmatt/2011/16hrt11a2.htm

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/08/03/18506506.html