6 It’s Farming. And It’s Better. Better Farming | January 2025 SYNGENTA BRINGS BIOSTIMULANT TO ONTARIO’S FARMS Syngenta is bringing a new product to Canadian farmers to help increase yields. Starting in 2025, corn, soybean, wheat, canola, and other row crop farmers can add YieldON to their toolboxes. This product is designed to be applied at a very specific time, said Christopher Dumigan, biologicals technical lead at Syngenta Canada. “It’s a biostimulant meant to be mixed with a foliar fungicide application,” he recently told Better Farming. “After it’s applied at the reproductive stage of a crop’s lifecycle, so like around heading time in wheat, it amplifies the process that plants naturally do when they move sugars from their leaf tissue into the sink at seed formation.” The product combines biomolecules from plants and seaweed, with trace elements of manganese, zinc, and molybdenum. It also has a four-hour rainfastness. YieldON trials have shown the product can help increase yields. But the increases aren’t uniform across the board. “In cereals, so wheat, durum, and barley, we’ve seen an average of 2.9 bushel per acre increase over fungicide alone,” Dumigan said. “In canola, we are 1.8 bushels per acre above fungicide alone.” It’s too early to identify how YieldON will help 2024 corn and soybean acres in Eastern Canada, Dumigan adds. A small trial plot at the Honeywood Research Facility in Plattsville, Ont. in 2023 showed a six-bushel advantage over fungicide alone. That’s in line with results out of the U.S. “Our U.S. friends have done well over 100 trials in corn, and they’ve seen an average of seven bushels per acre,” Dumigan said. BF The Canadian dairy industry opposes a recent amendment to a bill designed to protect supply management. In its original form, Bill C-282 protects supply management in all future trade negotiations. However, the Senate Foreign Affairs and International Trade Committee passed an amendment on Nov. 6 by a 10-3 vote proposing protecting supply management only in new trade negotiations. Canada could still concede market access in existing agreements, renegotiations or ongoing trade talks. This means access to Canada’s dairy market would still be available to the U.S. and Mexico in the scheduled 2026 CUSMA renegotiations. And because Canada is working out a trade deal with Britain, dairy access could still be on the table there too. Organizations say lawmakers must reject any amendments that put Canada’s dairy market, industry, and food security in a vulnerable position. “Bill C-282 is important to not only our farmers but also the stability of our domestic food system,” Dairy Farmers of Canada told Better Farming in an emailed statement that includes national egg, chicken, turkey and hatching egg producers. “This legislation is about safeguarding our domestic dairy, poultry and egg sectors in future trade negotiations, all while ensuring a stable and predictable supply of these goods.” Other members of the ag industry, however, support the change. With so much of Canadian ag, about 90 per cent, reliant on trade, providing negotiators flexibility to do business helps support the industry, the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) says. “The Senate Committee has recognized the threat to our sector by recommending an amendment that protects our core interests in the North American and other key trading relationships,” CAFTA president Greg Northey said in a Nov. 12 statement. “We continue to think the Bill should be rejected, but the amendment significantly reduces the risk that our country simply cannot afford in the current international environment.” The amended version of C-282 still needs support from the full Senate. If that occurs, the amended bill will move back to the House of Commons for consideration. BF - Diego Flammini C-282 AMENDMENT SPARKS DEBATE Leslie Stewart photo Beyond the Barn
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