Google food production or farming at any given moment and you will quickly see a pattern emerging in the articles you see listed. You will see headline topics ranging from positive to negative. You will see more information than you could ever hope to sift through in an afternoon. Some papers are well written documents on the scientific study of farming practice, while others are quite simply misinformation generated by special interest groups with a particular agenda. What is the average consumer to think of today’s farmer? It turns out this is a very polarizing subject in our society today. There is a major gap growing between rural and urban views on how our food is produced.

I want to share my observations on this subject over a short series of articles to add my voice to the story.

For transparency I would like to disclose my background. I am the first generation in my family to not grow up on a farm. I have grown up in Southwestern Ontario’s small towns and even spent some time living in London where I was able to get my first exposure to urban perceptions. I have spent most of my life working in Ontario’s farming industry. I am not an agronomist. I am simply one of the technically minded guys who works with farmers and their equipment, so my findings are not scientific. They are based on my observations as a guy who lives in both worlds. By sharing what I see I hope to start building a bridge between what is true and simply ideology and misinformation.

I work as a planting and harvest equipment specialist for Kearney Planters in Southeast Chatham-Kent. I am one member of a very talented and specialized team. Since 1979 this business has been working closely with Ontario’s farmers to develop sensible, sustainable solutions to challenges faced in the farming industry. Just as farming techniques have evolved over the years our business has too. Our unique approach to machinery design has grown our customer base on a global scale.

However our main focus remains helping farmers in our home region. I can tell you that Ontario’s farmers are a dedicated and passionate group. They are business minded because they need to be and they are also stewards of their land. They know that soil health and condition play a vital role in the success of their operations. Contrary to reports published by some media groups farmers invest an enormous amount of time learning and adopting new techniques that will make their operation more efficient and sustainable. They also invest heavily into machinery designed to decrease the amount of inputs they use and impact to the soil beneath it.

Even with all the variables like weather conditions and marketplace fluctuations Ontario’s farmers continue to be dedicated to investing in the advancement of technology. They don’t follow the trend. They drive it and push innovators to get better all the time. This natural desire to improve production methods is the reason our nation continues to generate growing amounts of fresh food on a shrinking amount of acreage.

I am very proud of the efforts put forth in Ontario’s agriculture industry as too are the team at Kearney Planters.

The relationships we form with our customers are very strong and I want to shine a light on an industry that deserves positive representation.

I invite you to follow this series of articles as I write about some of the equipment we use to help farmers in their efforts to advance machinery performance. I will cover options we use to help improve performance of older equipment and look at how to improve seed placement while planting.

Finally, I will report on techniques used to improve fertilizer placement to reduce inputs and minimize loss. Thank you for taking the time to read today. Farming is the largest industry in our local economy. It offers many wonderful career options. I encourage you to learn as much as you can about farming, Maybe you’re a farmer yourself. Please contact the team at Kearney Planters if you have any questions about the products and services we offer or check us out online kearneyplanters.com

Tailgate Talks,
with Collin Palmer of Kearney Planters