If you're going to harvest a wet, frost-damaged corn crop, wait until next year.The Ontario Corn Producers Association (OCPA) and the crop insurance commission have come within an eyelash of building a quality clause into the 1996 corn plan, and the corn association says it will insist the clause get approval for 1997.
"We're at a bit of an impasse over how a claim would be triggered, but on the fundamental issue of whether there should be a quality provision, I think we see eye to eye," says Mat Menich, Oxford county corn grower and new chairman of the OCPA's crop insurance committee.
Farmers would get payouts in years such as 1992. With the cold summer, crops didn't get enough heat to produce mature, high-test-weight kernels, and farmers suffered big grade discounts.
Menich says the coverage would boost the cost of crop insurance by about 25 cents per acre.
The clause may save the commission money in the long run, he says. "We could see a lot of fields get harvested instead of abandoned," Menich explains. If farmers could be protected from grade discounts, they'd want to get as much corn as possible out of the field.
The future of quality coverage, however, hinges on working out a way to trigger the payouts. The crop insurance commission says farmers should qualify only when there are quality problems across wide regions or the entire province.
The corn association says farmers should get coverage based on their own farms. "We're going to keep working at this," Menich says. "We want the plan in place for 1997."
Gerry Wismer, Essex county cash cropper and past chairman of the OCPA crop insurance committee, says corn growers also scored a key victory that could pay big dividends to anyone filing a claim in 1996.
In past, payouts have been based on harvest-time crop prices, Wismer says. But the fine print in the insurance contract said they couldn't be above the GRIP support price.
Farmers who made claims in 1995 therefore had their payouts capped at $3.11 per bushel, even though elevator prices were above $3.60.
For 1996, the commission has agreed to drop the GRIP cap, Wismer says. Because Ontario is moving to GRIP support prices pegged at 85 per cent of the long-term market average, up from 80 per cent, and because the support is adjusted for changes in the prices of inputs, Wismer says that for 1996, GRIP payouts will be based on about $3.50 per bushel, up 40 cents from 1995, but an equal amount short of the forward price for fall delivery, Wismer says.
The new policy will make it more realistic for farmers to back up their risk on delivery contracts by taking out crop insurance, Wismer adds. "We're delighted that the Ontario and Canadian governments have agreed that there will be no caps for 1996 and future years."
Bad weather will beat borers
By TOM BUTTON
It won't pay to spray for European corn borers in field corn. But they won't predict how many bushels will be robbed, how many stalks will be broken, or ears dropped."It all depends on the weather," says Tom Hartman, corn pest specialist for the provincial agriculture ministry at Clinton. "The weather at egg-laying makes a much, much bigger difference than simply looking at whether we had a lot or a little insect damage last year."
Albert Tenuta, pest specialist based at Ridgetown college, points out that American corn growers in 1991 suffered record-high borer damage. In 1992, the borers plunged to near-record lows.
It gives Ontario farmers reason for hope that their 1996 crops will be safe, despite last year's highest infestation in over a decade. Unfortunately, it also means 1996 could also see a repeat of last year, when Hartman saw yield losses of 25 to 30 per cent in hard-hit fields, and says many more farmers suffered what he calls "a five to 10-per-cent invisible loss."
Borers cut yield two ways. About four days after the female moths lay their eggs on the undersides of corn leaves, the larvae hatch out and crawl to the whorl, feeding on leaf tissue and creating the characteristic "shot hole" effect on the leaves. At the whorl, they burrow into the stalk to feed on plant juices and tissue.
Such feeding by one borer cuts yields an average five to six per cent. See Table One.
Borers also hurt harvestable yield by filling stalks and shanks with tunnels and galleries, so more stalks lodge and more ears drop, leaving more corn on the ground instead of in the combine tank.
Losses quickly climb in years with extra stresses, Hartman adds. In a good growing season, plants may shrug off the effects of borer feeding. In a droughty summer, they may suffer more than they would from either the borer or the drought, if the two didn't come together.
Hartman says the best borer defence is to pick hybrids with a track record of borer tolerance. Most companies have some ratings for their hybrids. Three new Ciba Maximizer hybrids have been bio-engineered to produce their own borer insecticide, although they are in short supply for 1996 planting.
Several insecticides are registered for borer control, but Hartman warns farmers against pinning their hopes on the sprays. The insecticides, mainly synthetic pyrethroids, must hit the larvae to kill them, and that's no easy feat. After hatching from the under side of the corn leaf, the larvae get inside the whorl within days, and the application window boils down to a matter of hours or a day at most.
Spraying makes sense in high-value sweet corn, because of yield losses, and borers in the ears are a major turn-off for consumers.
Hartman says sweet corn fields are also smaller, so they're more uniform, and easier to scout. "I really don't see spraying as having any role in grain corn."
A farmer's best hope is wet, windy weather, says Tenuta. Borers spend the winter as large larvae inside last year's corn stalks or corn cobs. As the spring progresses, they build cocoons, from which the adults emerge any time from early June to late September, for fields south of London; and from late June to mid-August for fields to the north and east.
The female moths can fly three to five miles looking for a corn crop for egg laying, but fly best on warm, calm nights. A single female can lay eggs twice a night every night for up to two weeks, with 15 to 30 eggs deposited at each laying. That's why it's so hard to predict what will happen this year, despite last summer's outbreak says Tenuta. If weather is calm and warm during times of peak moth activity this summer, a small number of moths will lay enough eggs to jeopardize a large acreage.
If the weather is rainy, windy or cool, crops might be safe even if a huge number of borers survive the winter, he says. Because the moths fly so far, field management has little effect on borer risks, he adds. Researchers know that deep plowing kills a lot of borer larvae, as does stalk chopping. But even if a field is completely borer-free at the start of spring, borers can fly in from neighbouring fields that provided safe borer havens.
With moths flying up to three to five miles per night, they can easily spread 20 miles during a week of calm nights, Tenuta says.
"It's all comes down to the weather we get for moth flights," Hartman says. "You can bet we'll get some borer damage, the same as we do every year.
"But you'd have to be a real gambler to bet whether we're going to get a lot of damage or only a little. There's no way anyone can know until we see what the weather will do."
Tortilla makers search for magic hybrid
The race is on to find a white corn hybrid that will let Ontario farmers replace the millions of dollars of corn being imported to make nachos, tortillas and Mexican-style chips. Taco and tortilla-style chips already outsell regular corn chips by a nine-to-one margin, see Table One, and are quickly gaining on potato chips. Within the tortilla chip market, demand for white corn is growing fast. White corn chips account for half the market now, up from 10 per cent in 1990. Sales are booming at restaurants too, ranging from high-price TexMex gourmet independents to fast food chains such as Taco Bell.For corn growers, white corn premiums could top $1 a bushel, with buyers such as Pepe's Mexican Foods and Frito Lay anxious to cut freight costs on white corn they currently have to bring in from the U.S. Midwest.
"We're all looking for the magic hybrid," says Dale Petrie, manager of Direct Seeds in Chatham.
Kent and Essex corn growers already produce 500,000 bushels a year for Frito Lay's corn chips. There are 203 hybirds on the 1996 Ontario corn list, but only three hybrids are good enough for the snack food market, including Pioneer 3532 contracted through Wheatley Elevators with a 60-cent-a-bushel premium, Direct D327 at 70 cents, and Ciba G4120 at 90 cents.
Key quality criteria include large size, test weight over 60 pounds a bushel, and hard starch that shatters, not crumbles. Making the grade in the white corn market is even tougher. Starch quality is crucial, as with Frito corn, but colour standards are frustrating. "It can't be pink and it can't be grey," Petrie says. "It has to be pure white, and it has to stay white throughout the cooking process."
The industry is wrapped in business secrecy, but insiders say Ontario is bringing nearly one million bushels of American white corn across the border annually, with imports climbing rapidly.
The earliest North American whites are 3300 heat units, about 200 heat units too late for reliable contracting in Ontario. Dave Baute, president of Tilbury-based Maizex, says his company is putting about 10 per cent of its breeding effort into white corn. Maizex has developed in-breds, and hopes to plant pilot tests with 3100 to 3150 heat unit experimental hybrids this summer.
Baute says the company has been working on white for eight years, with stepped-up efforts in the last four. "There's a pent-up demand for white corn in Ontario," Baute explains. He thinks a white hybrid would open the doors overnight for 10,000 contract acres, with more growth ahead. "The corn chip market is booming, and it's so expensive for the companies to import white corn, there's just a tremendous opportunity."
But, Baute cautions, "You have to have a hybrid that the buyers want to buy. Coming close doesn't get you anywhere." Petrie says his company has already screened the white genetics of four U.S. corn sources, and this year will expand to look at 20 to 25 hybrids from a fifth breeder.
"We aren't worried about yield so much," Petrie says. "In grain corn, yield is everything. In white corn, it's fourth or fifth down the list." Lower-yielding hybrids would be backed with higher premiums to attract growers, he predicts.
Indiana-based chief of food-quality corn breeding for Pioneer Hi-Bred, Peter Coaldrake, says the company is aggressively breeding white hybrids for the middle of the U.S. corn belt, but isn't aiming for white hybrids for Ontario and other northern production areas.
"White hybrids are harder to breed," Coaldrake says. Breeders must add many quality factors to an already long list of agronomic traits, he explains. The extra investment pays off in the central U.S., with 500,000 to 600,000 acres of white corn.
"We've had several conversations with Frito and others, but if the market in Ontario is 500 or 1,000 bags a year, that isn't big enough," Coaldrake says.
Public researchers in Ontario would like to test more white hybrids, but are hemmed in by tight research budgets. "We'd love to test white corn. The market is already there," says Gord Scheifele, corn researcher at Ridgetown college. Scheifele says local corn growers could have an edge on U.S. farmers, since the Ontario crop would be free of aflatoxin, a contaminant produced by a mould that hits southern corn, and linked to health fears.
"Unfortunately, there's no way we can test white corn, at least not a this point." Scheifele says.
Petrie is convinced that the Ontario corn industry will break the maturity barrier for white corn. The economics will drive the research, he says. "The biggest opportunity is for the first seed company that develops a white corn that meets all the standards and is early enough to mature consistently in our market," he says. "It could take over 50 per cent of the food-grade market in two years.
"Thank goodness for freight and the exchange rate. This is an excellent income opportunity for the Ontario corn industry." - TB
Commercial corn growing at North Bay?
Corn is a tropical grass. If it can grow in Chatham and Belleville without catching cold, why not North Bay, Moncton and Regina?New experimental hybrids are yielding 120 bushels an acre with just 2000 heat units. They're poised to push Ontario's corn frontier farther north than many experts thought would ever be possible, and they may even displace wheat from Brandon, Manitoba through to Lethbridge, Alberta.
"We're close, really close," says Don Smith, corn researcher at McGill University.
The breakthrough came when federal corn breeders led by Bob Hamilton put both the dwarf gene and the leafy gene into a single corn plant.
Smith planted the new hybrids, called leafy dwarfs, in side-by-side comparisons last summer, and found they outyield current 2350 and 2500-heat-unit varieties by up to seven per cent, even though they mature a week earlier.
"We need to learn more about how to grow and manage them," Smith says. "They're almost too good to be true...good yields, early maturity, I've never seen any lodging in them, and they're even better for weed control because they canopy faster."
Hamilton says leafy dwarfs outyield normal hybrids of the similar maturity by about 20 per cent. Two leafy dwarf inbreds have been released to Canadian seed corn companies. "My guess is we'll see commercial hybrids on the market in just two or three years," he says.
Previous bids to use dwarf genetics to move corn further north fell short because of foliage, he says. The dwarf gene was discovered in 1957. Most recently, PAG Seeds, now part of Cargill, tried to develop dwarf hybrids in the late 1970s, but the dwarf lines lacked yield punch.
Back at their computers, federal researchers learned that the early dwarfs produced so little leaf surface, they intercepted only about 75 per cent of the sunlight hitting the field. The new leafy dwarfs put on eight to 14 leaves above the ear, compared to three to four for the plain dwarfs, and now intercept 95 per cent of solar energy.
The new hybrids also get strong stalks and better roots from the leafy gene, Hamilton says. They suffer less bird damage, since the canopy makes it harder for birds to get at the ears.
Researchers are looking for the best way to grow the leafy dwarfs. They're testing 15-inch rows, as well as twinned 30-inch rows, and they're evaluating a wide range of stands.
Researchers are also looking at harvest technology. It's quite possible the new hybrids could be combined with a grain head, so farmers new to corn wouldn't have to buy a corn header. - TB
Government balks at drift claims
Government and Sandoz researchers will put Clarity to the test this spring in the wake of a decision not to print the company's drift claims in the new issue of Publication 75, the provincial government's guide to weed control.Sandoz says Clarity is a heavier form of dicamba that's more resistant to vapour drift than Banvel, the broadleaf killer that's sprayed on over half of Ontario's corn acreage.
Sandoz marketing manager Bob McAuley predicts Ontario farmers will use Clarity on seven to 10 per cent of the corn acres west of Toronto, where farmers are more likely to grow corn close to sensitive crops ranging from tomatoes and tobacco to soybeans.
McAuley says Clarity will sell at a three to five-per-cent premium over Banvel, and will deliver equivalent weed control.
The company sold limited volumes in 1995, and says it got no complaints from on-label use.
Even so, the Ontario Weed Committee blocked Clarity out of the corn pages of Publication 75. "We had no field evidence to show it's any safer than Banvel," explains Al Hamill, weed researcher for the federal agriculture department at Harrow. "We're not saying it isn't more resistant to volatil-ization," Hamill says. "We're simply saying we're not going to put anything into Publication 75 if there isn't any proof to back up the claims."
Some Ontario corn growers got good results with Clarity last spring. Oxford county custom sprayer Chris Paret sprayed a Clarity and Frontier tank mix on 180 acres of spike-stage corn last spring. "I was looking for a product that wouldn't pose a vapour drift threat to our neighbour's tobacco," Paret says.
Paret says the chemical stayed where it was sprayed. "There wasn't even any weed damage in the ditch between the farms." In Kent county, cash cropper Francis Nemeth had seen his tomato crops over the years damaged by Banvel drift from his corn, but then switched to Clarity in 1995. "I got good weed control and no damage at all to my tomatoes," Nemeth says. Yet Hugh Martin, provincial government crops adviser based at St. Thomas, told Farm & Country he has heard as many reports of drift injury from Clarity as from Banvel.
"What I hear is that farmers are being told Clarity is safer for wind drift, not just vapour drift," Martin says. "That definitely isn't true.
"I think the jury is still out on Clarity. If I had tobacco, I'd just as soon my neighbour used Pardner."
Sandoz product supervisor Brian Woolley agrees that if there's wind at spraying, Clarity can hurt nearby soybeans, tomatoes and tobacco just as much as Banvel.
For drift, the Clarity and Banvel labels read exactly the same, warning farmers against spraying when the thermometer climbs over 25 degrees Celsius.
Woolley says most dicamba injury comes from wind drift at spraying, not from vapour drift when the weather turns hot and humid. "What's confusing is, it takes four or five days for the symptoms to develop," he explains. "Farmers think the dicamba walked over on its own. Really, it had been there ever since it was sprayed."
Woolley says Banvel is immune to vapour drift after four hours on the soil, when it becomes attached to soil particles, and eight hours on plants, when it's absorbed into green tissue. Yet no one disputes that vapour drift is a risk when spraying Banvel. "On one farm I saw, there was Banvel injury to soybeans on three sides of the corn," Hamill says. "The wind wasn't blowing in three directions. I think there's a lot we still don't know about volatilization."
Sandoz says Clarity is a 'heavier' molecule that is less vulnerable to vapour drift. Hamill says the weed committee wants more field results to prove the claim. "Almost all of what we've seen so far is based on chemical studies of the formulation, not field experience."
This summer, company and government researchers will spray Banvel and Clarity on soybeans in side by side plots to see whether the one dicamba product hurts a bigger patch than the other.
In the interim, Hamill is telling farmers to be cautious of drift claims. "As far as I'm concerned, I'd go with whichever dicamba I can get the best price on," he says. "Then spray them according to the label - that's still a good way to minimize the chances of volatility." - TB
Hemp grower has to hire harvest cops
By BERNARD TOBIN
When you take a look at Joe Strobel's cost of production breakdown, one item begs an explanation - the $38 an hour he pays to have a police officer eyeball workers during harvest. But that's part of the deal when you're trying to get a hemp crop off. Strobel started growing hemp in 1994, the first time the crop had been planted in Canada since it was outlawed almost 60 years ago.Hemp is a strain of the plant species Cannabis sativa L, and has long been confused with Cannabis strains used to produce marijuana. Hemp plants contain low levels of the narcotic THC, the active ingredient that makes it attractive to mind-bending smoke fans, but strict police protocols, including keeping the location of the crop secret, are enough to keep government regulators at bay.
But Strobel, a former Tilsonburg tobacco grower, is trying to revive hemp production as an alternative crop for farmers. He says rising costs for raw materials such as wood, cotton and petroleum could propel demand for the fast-growing crop. Its strength, durability and absorbency makes it a viable alternative for the paper, textile, cordage and building material industries, Strobel says.
After two years on the job, Strobel is still trying to peg the value of hemp byproducts and determine the best production methods. He planted his first crop in June 1994, but heavy rain that summer played havoc with the crop. Some of the plants were drowned out.
Soil variability was also blamed. "In some areas, the plants grew to 10 feet, but in other areas, it was one foot," Strobel says. The trouble was varying pH levels throughout the 10-acre crop. Sulphur, applied to low-pH-level areas, and lime for high-pH areas, helped even out the 15-acre, 1995 crop. Hemp growing periods vary depending on seed variety, weather and location. Maturation rates vary from 100 days for fibre, up to 130 days for seed. Parts of Strobel's 1995 crop matured in 70 days. "It was growing two to three inches a day," he says. Some matured Aug. 1, reaching 10-foot heights, after spending only two months in the ground.
The crop was cut using a side mower, and baled using round and square balers. Strobel says there is still plenty of equipment modification needed for harvesting. "It's tough on machinery." Mower blades had to be sharpened every five acres. Normally, they keep their edge for 40 acres when cutting hay.
Last year, Strobel planted six different varieties. Two varieties came close to producing four tonnes per acre, the production level, he says, needed to turn a profit. But that figure is just an estimate, he cautions, because the value of the crop won't be determined until he tries to sell it, and that could be a couple of years from now.
Hemp also has to be legalized for sale. Currently, hemp is regulated by the federal health department, but Strobel wants the government to make the distinction between fibre hemp and marijuana. If the government recognizes hemp as an alternative crop, jurisdiction could then be shifted to the agriculture department and he could get down to business.
Strobel is currently trying to determine the logistics and costs of processing hemp. Last year he sent some of the crop to Oregon where the plant's core fibre was turned into fibre board. The end product tested 50 per cent better than similar products made from wood. "It's really strong," he says.
Hemp was also shipped to Kentucky where different methods were used for taking primary fibre off the plant. Primary fibre, found in the plant's external layer, is used for making clothing and rope, but Strobel says the experiments "didn't work well".
But the former school teacher is not discouraged. He points out that the French are combining hemp's core fibre, a pulp-like product, with limestone to make building blocks for houses. It can also be used to make absorbants used for cleaning up oil spills, and making diapers and house insulation.
Strobel says hemp also has many ecological benefits. The crop doesn't need herbicides or pesticides, and cuts the weed population drastically, making it an ideal rotation crop. "And there's no bugs, except mosquitoes, that bother this stuff. But that may change," he says.
Hemp does need fertilizer, however. In 1994, Strobel applied 500 pounds per care of 20-10-10. Last year, a dry year, he switched to 585 pounds of 17-17-17, after limestone.
Fuzzy kiwi cousin comes to Canada
By COLLEEN MELLOR
Special to Farm & Country
A new Ontario fruit crop could turn the tables on Californian kiwi fruit growers who export to Canada. The exotic hardy kiwi vine needs a dormant period to produce fruit, so it's actually easier to grow in Ontario's climate than in the southern U.S. A cousin to the fuzzy kiwi enjoyed all over the world, courtesy of California, the hardy kiwi is even better, say growers. Its flavour is a combination of pineapple, strawberry and grape and its higher sugar content gives a better taste, they say. With a smooth, edible skin, it's easier to eat than fuzzy kiwi. And it can ride on the extensive marketing of the fuzzy kiwi.The vine presents a "ground floor opportunity," Paul Klassen, co-owner of Northern Kiwi Nursery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, told a standing-room-only crowd at the recent Ontario Horticultural Crops Conference in Mississauga. Loblaws and food wholesalers are knocking on his door, he said, and there's almost no competition from the U.S. where growers tend fewer than 10 acres apiece.
"It's one of the few crops where the U.S. doesn't dictate the price. Canadian growers, let's go." said Klassen, who, with his brothers, has grown the hardy vine for 10 years and is propagating it for gardeners and commercial growers.
The crop is so new, no one has even agreed on a name. It's known as the 'hardy kiwi', but U.S. grower Lee Reich thinks it needs a better name. "'Van zhou', 'tar' or 'kishmish' might be more appealing," he said.
"If you think the name doesn't matter, think about how well the fuzzy kiwi sold when it was called 'Chinese gooseberry', or avocado, when it was called 'alligator pear,'" said Reich, who grows hardy kiwi in New York's Hudson Valley.
But Klassen thinks kiwi should be in the name, as in 'grape kiwi', from British Columbia. "If you give it a new name, you have to do a lot of marketing. If it's called 'hardy kiwi', 'cocktail kiwi' or 'grape kiwi', consumers know it's a kiwi," he said.
Californian growers first planted the fuzzy kiwi in 1977 and today it's near over-production, Reich said. Although related, the two vines have different origins. Fuzzy kiwi is from New Zealand, while the hardy kiwi originates in eastern Asia. Americans brought it home for ornamental purposes. Little is known about hardy kiwi's soil requirements, management or varieties. It also takes an investment: B.C. start-up costs were about $7,000 per acre, including land preparation, labour, plants and trellising, Reich said. Depending on growing conditions, vines bear fruit in three to five years and last about 60 years.
Klassen's two acres of hardy kiwi are only beginning to produce, yielding between 100 and 200 pounds last year, earning $3 a pint. Klassen hopes for yields of 10 tons an acre once the vines are mature. He's planting two more acres and increasing plants per acre from 250 to between 400 and 450. Klassen favours the Actinidia Arguta Ananasnaya variety because "it's very hardy and vigorous, growing up to one inch daily." It's rated for zone 4, withstanding minus 29 to minus 34 C, but requires about 150 frost-free days for ripening. Although mature vines are hardy, young plants, they need some protection, such as burlap or straw, to keep off winter sun and cold, Reich said.
Hardy kiwi requires good drainage because it's susceptible to crown rot. "If you don't have perfect drainage, then plant vines up on mounds. They like even moisture, not dry conditions. They need a sunny site free from late spring frost. The ideal slope is north-facing, anything to delay the plant coming out of dormancy," said Reich.
Plants are either male or female and need a ratio of eight females per male. Plants are mostly insect-pollinated, with some wind pollination.
Reich bases fertilizer applications on the fuzzy kiwi. A split fertilizer application, maybe April, May and June, reduces the risk of salt injury, Reich said.
Vines are usually supported on a T-trellis about six feet high and wide, with three to five wires strung between the arms of the T. Posts are spread 16 feet apart, with plants at eight feet.
Young plants are trained to a single trunk up to the middle trellis wire. Two horizontal cordons, running in opposite directions, are trained along that wire. Temporary fruiting arms, perpendicular to the wires, grow off the cordons. Hardy kiwi vines need pruning in winter and summer to keep them manageable and to stimulate growth. In winter, fruiting arms are cut to within 18 inches of where growth began the previous season. Male vines are pruned heavily after flowering.
Vines tend to blossom at different times, usually in June, and ripen at different times, towards the end of September. Vine-ripened fruits are easily damaged. "We let a few ripen, then go in and pick them all with one harvest. The harder ones we put in the fridge, then bring them out so they ripen at the same time," Klassen said.
New varieties will redden when ripe, making it easier to judge. New hardy kiwi varieties will soon be available in many colours. "It will be very interesting," he said. For more information: Northern Kiwi Nursery, RR 3, 181 Niven Rd., Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. L0S 1J0.