Philip Shaw

It is snowing in Brazil. What you say? Well, I’m over the top there for sure, but in a way, it did. American soybeans were imported into Brazil last week. It was only one cargo load according to Bloomberg, but that is akin to Canada importing snow in January. We all know Brazil sold all…

Late September and early October gave us good weather for fall harvest. Well, so much for that. Last Sunday, the first raindrops shut down my soybean harvest and it’s been raining ever since. I only have about 5% of my total soybean harvest left, but the weather is resembling more like November instead of mid-October….

Things are not good, but on the other hand, not everything is about the Covid19 pandemic that continues to wage its brutal truth across the land. I talked to one of my machinery guys the other day and he assured me that the mood in the countryside among farmers is pretty good this fall. He…

I took some pictures today of some of my SRW wheat emerging from a field which is long overdue for wheat. In the deep south west of Ontario, the acreage of winter wheat largely depends on whether mother nature gives us the opportunity to get it planted. This year I’ve been fortunate, getting over half…

Combines have begun to roll in SW Ontario even though all the soybeans are not necessarily ready. I got rolling September 22nd into an early field. I even had one load of soybeans test 9.8%, which I think is the lowest moisture reading I’ve ever received over a career for soybeans. Warm late summer weather…

Combines have begun to roll in SW Ontario even though all the soybeans are not necessarily ready. I got rolling September 22nd into an early field. I even had one load of soybeans test 9.8%, which I think is the lowest moisture reading I’ve ever received over a career for soybeans. Warm late summer weather…

I checked on my soybeans today. It’s a cool time of year, mid-September. Typically, the days are still warm and crops like soybeans seem to accelerate into harvest. It’s just been the opposite here in the deep southwest of Ontario this past week, but the crop is advancing. If I had bright sunny warm weather,…

Covid19 still stalks our land, but of course it is always a matter of perspective. As of September 3rd, we’ve had 9140 Canadians die from Covid 19. Worldwide, we have 26.1 million cases and rising with 864000 deaths. In farm country, living with the virus is in overdrive as everybody has become accustomed to social…

I had a young farmer tell me last month on the social network twitter, I’m wrong on all accounts. I asked him for an explanation, but really should have answered him with the reality I’m wrong most of the time, but I try to get it right. As August comes to an end, usually it’s…

I took a walk in my soybeans again tonight. On August 20th, I thought I might see some signs of ripening. I grew a variety that was a bit earlier than usually for my area, which I believed might let me get my wheat planted earlier. However, on my field walk tonight, I saw no…