Registration is Now Open for the 2024 March Classic

Jan 04, 2024

Guelph, ON – - Grain Farmers of Ontario, the province’s largest commodity organization, representing Ontario’s 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean, and wheat farmers, has opened registration for its March Classic: Advancing Our Strong Roots.

The 2023 March Classic will be held on March 19, 2024, at RBC Place in London, Ontario. The event will be held in person this year, with opportunities to hear speakers discuss how people can be ready to take on the new opportunities that arise, to network with agricultural leaders, and to engage with more than 65 exhibitors.

Our 2024 March Classic keynote speakers include:

Shawn Hackett, Ag Commodities Expert
Marshall Sewell, Mind Your Melon, Mental Health and Stress Management Advocate, sponsored by FCC
Amanda Lang, Award Winning Business Journalist
Tareq Hadhad, Founder and CEO of Peace By Chocolate, EY Entrepreneur of the Year

“We are thrilled to return to London with a captivating and informative lineup, building on the success of last year's March Classic Agriculture event,” says Victoria Berry, Manager, Communications, Grain Farmers of Ontario. “The future is built on the foundation we give it, and Ontario grain farming has deep, strong roots that feed this country’s people and support the success of the agriculture industry.”

“Since 2010, the March Classic has stood as Grain Farmers of Ontario's flagship event. Year after year, farmers constantly show their resiliency, flexibility, and innovation. In times of challenge, they persevere. They learn from the past, and they invest in the future. Grain Farmers of Ontario eagerly anticipates reconnecting with everyone at this year's event, fostering ongoing engagement and collaboration in the agricultural community,” says Crosby Devitt, CEO, Grain Farmers of Ontario.

Registration is now open! Please visit www.gfo.ca/MarchClassic to register for the 2024 March Classic and view the agenda, complete speaker lineup, and hotel details.

Those who register before January 31, 2024, will be entered to win an all-Canadian Chilly Moose Cooler prize pack. The winner will be contacted directly.

Source : GFO

Video: Seeing the Whole Season: How Continuous Crop Modeling Is Changing Breeding

Plant breeding has long been shaped by snapshots. A walk through a plot. A single set of notes. A yield check at the end of the season. But crops do not grow in moments. They change every day.

In this conversation, Gary Nijak of AerialPLOT explains how continuous crop modeling is changing the way breeders see, measure, and select plants by capturing growth, stress, and recovery across the entire season, not just at isolated points in time.

Nijak breaks down why point-in-time observations can miss critical performance signals, how repeated, season-long data collection removes the human bottleneck in breeding, and what becomes possible when every plot is treated as a living data set. He also explores how continuous modeling allows breeding programs to move beyond vague descriptors and toward measurable, repeatable insights that connect directly to on-farm outcomes.

This conversation explores:

• What continuous crop modeling is and how it works

• Why traditional field observations fall short over a full growing season

• How scale and repeated measurement change breeding decisions

• What “digital twins” of plots mean for selection and performance

• Why data, not hardware, is driving the next shift in breeding innovation As data-driven breeding moves from research into real-world programs, this discussion offers a clear look at how seeing the whole season is reshaping value for breeders, seed companies, and farmers, and why this may be only the beginning.