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Experimental farm in Chatham-Kent celebrates its first harvest

The Ontario FangZheng Agriculture Enterprise has harvested its crop of medium-grain rice

The Ontario FangZheng Agriculture Enterprise celebrated a milestone Friday, with producers harvesting the farm's first crop of medium-grain sticky rice.
Farm manager Wendy Zhang said the experiment was a success, describing the harvested rice as "perfect."

"We didn't get any disease or pest problem this year," she said. "The yield should be good — not excellent — because we still do not apply too much fertilizer."FangZheng relied on equipment supplied in part by Tri-Hark Farms to harvest the rice crop.

Jim Hawkins, co-owner of Tri-Hawk Farms, said the rice crop looks promising.

Despite the farm's successful harvest, John Zandstra, a professor of fruit and vegetable cropping systems at the University of Guelph's Ridgetown campus, explained that there's still quite a bit of work ahead for the initiative.

 

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Dr. Fei Yang Discusses Corn Rootworm, European Corn Borer, and Pest Monitoring

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What insect threats are Minnesota corn growers facing, and what research is helping farmers stay ahead of them?

At the 2026 MN Ag Expo, University of Minnesota entomologist Fei Yang shared updates on three Minnesota Corn-supported research projects focused on insect monitoring, seed treatments, and pest resistance.

Current work includes statewide monitoring programs that use pheromone, light, and sticky traps to track key pests such as black cutworm, true armyworm, corn earworm, European corn borer, and corn rootworm. Researchers are also evaluating whether high-rate seed treatments provide effective corn rootworm control and studying the development of resistance in European corn borer populations to Bt corn traits.

These projects help researchers better understand pest pressures across Minnesota and provide farmers with practical information to support informed management decisions.