For most of Ontario, 2015 planting season broke early and happened very quickly.  Larger and faster equipment, bigger fields and new G.P.S. technologies allow growers to plant more acres per day than ever before.  This in turn pushes the crop input supply sector harder to keep up with demands.

Now is a great time to sit back and assess where the bottlenecks developed that caused glitches and what can be done to correct them.   I’ve noticed many new bulk seed tenders on farms this spring, which must make handling bulk seed very efficient.  For ALPINE starter fertilizer most growers store much or all of their seasonal needs on-farm and use nurse trucks or wagons to get it to the fields.  Has your on-farm storage capacity kept up with your increased acreage and planting speed?  Would a slightly larger nurse tank save some trips to those farms further away from home?  Poly tanks do have a  life expectancy and should be replaced when the risk of them being compromised increases.  Now is the time to figure out upgrades that may be necessary to both storage and nurse tanks.

When getting equipment put away for the off-season it’s also a great idea to look it over and see if any hoses, connections, pumps or tanks are in need of replacement or repair.  It’s much easier to deal with these items now than in the spring of 2016 when the pressure’s on to get to the fields.

– Ken