Summer of Extremes for Ontario Crops

Jul 07, 2023

We’re only two weeks into summer, and it is proving to be the summer of extremes across the province, according to OMAFRA’s weekly crop update released Thursday.

Some parts of the province are waterlogged, and others are screaming for rain. Spring-seeded crops are progressing rapidly with the recent heat; winter wheat harvest will be starting as soon as some fields dry down.

Corn

There were some extreme rainfall amounts in the southwest area of the province this past weekend, with some areas receiving upwards of six inches over a couple of days, creating massive amounts of flooding. Crops are waterlogged, meaning the disease triangle has been well set up for future disease development.

Crop heat units (CHUs) are still behind in some areas, but this week of warm temperatures during the day AND at night will help accumulate CHUs, bringing CHU accumulation closer to average, opined OMAFRA.

Soybeans

Soybeans across the province are starting to flower, with some areas in full bloom. Pay attention to waterlogged areas as signs of wet roots may show up over the coming week as the bottom leaves turn yellow or soybeans die. Given recent weather, expect disease pressure to increase significantly in a short time frame.

Winter wheat

Winter wheat fields are staging anywhere from milk to ripe, with some issues with armyworm continuing to be reported.

Winter wheat harvest will begin soon, as fields in the southwest are turning gold in colour. Warm, dry weather will help ripen the grain. The heavy rains experienced on the weekend did cause some lodged wheat.

Source : Syngenta.ca

Video: Why Your Food Future Could be Trapped in a Seed Morgue

In a world of PowerPoint overload, Rex Bernardo stands out. No bullet points. No charts. No jargon. Just stories and photographs. At this year’s National Association for Plant Breeding conference on the Big Island of Hawaii, he stood before a room of peers — all experts in the science of seeds — and did something radical: he showed them images. He told them stories. And he asked them to remember not what they saw, but how they felt.

Bernardo, recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award, has spent his career searching for the genetic treasures tucked inside what plant breeders call exotic germplasm — ancient, often wild genetic lines that hold secrets to resilience, taste, and traits we've forgotten to value.

But Bernardo didn’t always think this way.

“I worked in private industry for nearly a decade,” he recalls. “I remember one breeder saying, ‘We’re making new hybrids, but they’re basically the same genetics.’ That stuck with me. Where is the new diversity going to come from?”

For Bernardo, part of the answer lies in the world’s gene banks — vast vaults of seed samples collected from every corner of the globe. Yet, he says, many of these vaults have quietly become “seed morgues.” “Something goes in, but it never comes out,” he explains. “We need to start treating these collections like living investments, not museums of dead potential.”

That potential — and the barriers to unlocking it — are deeply personal for Bernardo. He’s wrestled with international policies that prevent access to valuable lines (like North Korean corn) and with the slow, painstaking science of transferring useful traits from wild relatives into elite lines that farmers can actually grow. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But he’s convinced that success starts not in the lab, but in the way we communicate.

“The fact sheet model isn’t cutting it anymore,” he says. “We hand out a paper about a new variety and think that’s enough. But stories? Plants you can see and touch? That’s what stays with people.”

Bernardo practices what he preaches. At the University of Minnesota, he helped launch a student-led breeding program that’s working to adapt leafy African vegetables for the Twin Cities’ African diaspora. The goal? Culturally relevant crops that mature in Minnesota’s shorter growing season — and can be regrown year after year.

“That’s real impact,” he says. “Helping people grow food that’s meaningful to them, not just what's commercially viable.”

He’s also brewed plant breeding into something more relatable — literally. Coffee and beer have become unexpected tools in his mission to make science accessible. His undergraduate course on coffee, for instance, connects the dots between genetics, geography, and culture. “Everyone drinks coffee,” he says. “It’s a conversation starter. It’s a gateway into plant science.”