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These days, successful farming is about more than just growing crops and raising livestock
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It's also about appropriate production and marketing innovations that boost efficiency, meet local consumer demands, and boost environmental performance
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This video showcases two specific examples of clean agricultural technology in use right now
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as part of the Martin family's Pure Island Beef operation on Manitoulin Island, Ontario
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Innovation is something the Martins have been pursuing ever since they began farming in 1989
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and it's a big part of their success today. Nicholas Martin, with assistance from the Sustainable New Agri-Food Products and Productivity Program
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purchased a New Holland FP240 forage harvester with kernel processor in 2020
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to help meet the demand for locally raised, forage-finished, and grain-finished beef in northern Ontario
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The Martins market all the beef from their 350-cow operation exclusively to consumers and retail outlets
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through their Pure Island Beef brand, with virtually no animals going through traditional commodity channels
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The Martins aim to produce what their customers want, and this means they need high-quality, high-energy feeds to finish and age their premium beef the way consumers demand
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We got into corn silage with the purchase of this. The tonnage advantage of corn over whether it be barley or grasses into the feed diet is phenomenal, the tonnage advantage
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So we're able to really expand the amount of cattle that we're feeding without expanding our land base
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Besides high production capacity, this forage harvester has a kernel processor that makes the grain component of barley and corn silage much more digestible for cattle
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by breaking down individual kernels instead of letting them pass through the animal hole
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The bottom line is more efficient harvesting of the silage for finishing cattle
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and more efficient use of that feed as it's being fed. Here you can see the kernel processor in action with the cover opened so you can see what's going on
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All of the silage passes between these two closely spaced serrated rollers
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crushing the material and especially making the grain portion more digestible. For years, the Martins used a conventional horizontal beater manure spreader
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to return nutrients and organic matter back to the soil from the barnyard
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All that changed when Jim Martin decided to improve the efficiency of the manure side of the operation
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The SNAP program assisted with the purchase of a vertical beater, hydraulic feed
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Hagedorn 5290 manure spreader for their operation. Before this machine arrived on the farm, it took longer to spread the manure from a year's worth of winter feeding
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than it did to harvest and store the feed that ended up in the manure
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Jim's new vertical beater unit cuts spreading time by at least 50 percent
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or two weeks less work each year compared with before, while also improving spreading performance in a big way
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We don't have any more of these clumps anymore. We have a much finer spread, even spread
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Whereas the previous horizontal spreaders, at times it was almost like throwing out a blank at a manure
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This type of spreader, that just doesn't happen. The spread pattern is just much, much better than what we had before
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The large flotation tires greatly reduce soil compaction too. Reducing soil compaction is especially important with a manure spreader
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because spreading operations often happen at times of the year when soil is wet
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and susceptible to yield-robbing compaction. This spreader holds about two times as much manure as their previous model
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so there are fewer trips back to the manure pile and even less soil compaction as a result
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Food security is important for everyone, but it only happens when good land, hard work, sound decisions
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and technical innovation come together with skill and experience. The Martins offer one example of what successful, environmentally sound innovation looks like
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on the farmland of Ontario. The Sustainable New Agri-Food Products and Productivity Program, SNAP for short
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is a funding initiative that responds to opportunities and eases the challenges of expanding agri-food production in Northern Ontario
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SNAP is an initiative of the Rural Agri-Innovation Network, a division of the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre
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in partnership with the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance and the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre
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SNAP is proudly supported by Fednor and the Government of Canada
