Philip Shaw

The last week has been a bit of a slap in the face as cold air has inundated southwestern Ontario and we had wisps of snow wafting across farm country. In some parts of Ontario there is heavy snow and toward the Niagara region close to Buffalo it’s going to be a snow tsunami this…

Almost three years ago your loyal scribe was the guest speaker at the Prince Edward Island Grains and Oilseeds Outlook Conference in Summerside PEI, where I was talking about eastern Canadian grain markets. As usual, wherever I go I like to focus in on local cash markets.  Looking at the Atlantic Canada markets is always…

I have moved to my last cornfield, and it is a pretty tough one.  The yield monitor has not been kind on my initial forays into the field as widespread drought from June to August certainly caused a lot of havoc with my dreams of a bumper corn yield. Memories of last year’s near record…

I have always said that it is a long time between when you place your seed corn in the ground to the time when you run your combine through the field.  In other words, when you place that seed in the cold ground of Ontario in late April you never really know what the world’s…

This week I got reminded that I live in Canada with a cold north wind mixed in with whisps of misty rain delaying my soybean harvest.  it ended with a bang last Saturday night with a snapped combine fan belt, one of those small annoyances during the harvest season.  Of course, these things always happen…

It is another week and I find myself still chasing soybeans.  I’m about 2/3 finished but the rest have been two green for me to successfully get those beans in the bin.  The weather has turned colder in southwestern Ontario with a little bit of moisture, but consistent with this year the forecast for rain…

I’ve been chasing soybeans all week.  That can happen in the fall when you get good weather, and the soybeans aren’t quite mature yet. Oftentimes, the soybeans are dry, but the straw is green and that makes for some challenging harvesting conditions to say the least.  I say I’m chasing soybeans because my remaining acres…

It has been a brutal period for some farmers within the great Canadian farm belt. Hurricane Fiona hit the Maritime provinces with a fury far beyond what many expected. A few years ago, pre pandemic I had the opportunity to speak at the Prince Edward Island Grain and Oilseeds conference in Summerside PEI. At that…

I am hoping to be driving a combine through my first soybean field tomorrow. It certainly feels like a long season to me this year even though this would be an early start.  Most of my soybeans are still at least three weeks away having been replanted in a very difficult spring. As a lookout…

It seems early for southwestern Ontario, but I have tractors and wagons full of soybeans flowing past my place on their way to the elevator. It is a reflection of the very arid summer that we had this past year. An extended dry spell from mid-June into August essentially tore the guts out of our…