Philip Shaw

Harvest has finally started for me in southwestern Ontario. Excellent weather with bright sunny days has me planting wheat and harvesting at the same time. It’s a bit of a challenge especially as I grow older, but big equipment helps along with those excellent conditions. It’s been a long year for me; I’d love to…

Next week at this time I hope to be well into my soybean harvest. September weather in southwestern Ontario has been exquisite for crops planted late and hungry for good fall weather to bring them home. These crops aren’t home yet or in the bin, but hot weather into the end of September has been…

I’m gearing up for harvest. In spring, I try to envision every scenario that needs to be addressed. Come the fall, it’s the same thing in reverse. Now that the crop is almost upon us, I’d better be ready once the crop is ready. Despite the lower commodity prices of the last few months, there…

  The soybeans are starting to turn color here in southwestern Ontario. For those of us who planted into Canada Day and after it is a welcome sign. It is difficult to tell whether some other type of nutrient deficiencies might have hastened on the ripening, but it’s that time of year when the shorter…

It is a big world out there. I say that because I can remember the many times that I’ve traveled in an airplane over the world’s oceans. Believe it or not, on the other side of the world people get up just like we do and go to work hoping to get through another day….

I read a tweet the other day about fertile stripping. I only had a slight glance at the tweet, which talked about 325 bushels per acre of corn. That was quite impressive, but I had no idea what fertile stripping was. I assume it is a new buzz phrase in tillage, which I’m always the…

As surprises go, for me personally, this was a head scratcher. No, I’m not talking about last week’s USDA report. However, that probably fits in that mold too. This past spring I’ve got some wild carrot, which is growing in my soybean fields, which shouldn’t be there. I think having to leave the soybean ground…

The days have grown shorter this August, which reminds me of what might be ahead. However, I am wishing for good things, warm weather, adequate rains and a wide-open fall. This August weekend feels like a bit of the calm before the storm. On Monday we may find out how many acres of corn and…

The calendar has turned over into August and I can hardly believe that July is in the rear view mirror. In the deep southwest of Ontario this year July was a planting month. I hope we don’t see that in 2020 and beyond. The crops look pretty good in my area now except for one…

If there is a one constant as a farmer it’s watching the weather. I can ask almost any of my colleagues at almost anytime in the year what the weather’s going to do and they will know. It’s this way because we are so weather dependent, but it’s also this way because with the advent…