Features Agronomy
August rain could reduce yield loss for Chatham-Kent farmers

Sept. 1, 2016 - Some Chatham-Kent soybean producers are dealing with a spider mite infestation in their crop, brought on by the dry weather the region experienced earlier this summer.

Spider mites are barely perceptible pests that suck sap from vegetation and thrive in hot, dry conditions. The warm weather in June and July, and a borderline drought across Ontario during the same time, gave spider mites the optimal environment to reproduce quickly and to spread rapidly.

“We have them somewhere in Ontario every dry year,” says Horst Bohner, provincial soybean specialist with OMAFRA. “It’s a field-by-field situation...they pull out the sap, the juices, and then the leaves start to yellow and curl up.”

Bill Weaver is a corn and soybean farmer in the Dresden area. He says while spider mites haven’t hurt his crops this summer, other farmers have not been so lucky. | READ MORE.

September 1, 2016  By Chatham Daily News