(Resource News International) — The harvest of Ontario’s corn crop continues to
slowly move forward while most of the soybean fields in the
province have now been combined, according to a provincial cereals
specialist.
“In terms of the corn harvest in Ontario, it’s about one-
half to two-thirds complete at present,” said Peter Johnson, a cereal
specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and
Rural Affairs.
He said corn yield results in the province have been a bit
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what was achieved last year. Yields last year generally averaged
about 162 bushels an acre.
“A positive for Ontario corn fields this year was the fact
that the heat-unit average was up,” Johnson said. He estimated
that heat units ranged roughly five to 20 per cent higher than average
during the growing season.
“The key issue was the lack of moisture during the growing
season.”
The soybean harvest in Ontario, meanwhile, was virtually
complete with over 95 per cent of activities done, Johnson said.
He said yields for soybeans were down about 15 per cent from normal,
again reflecting lack of rain during the growing season. The
long-term average yield in Ontario for soybeans was roughly 36 to
“There were instances where yields were only 25 bushels to
the acre,” he said, adding that soybean fields were hurt by the
dry conditions, moreso than corn.
“Soybean fields, laying side by side, have been running as
much as a 30 bu./ac. difference in yields,” Johnson said.
Management, rotation, drainage, weather were all factors
causing some of the extreme yield variability.
Johnson estimated corn and soybean acreage in the
province could be lower next spring, as producers in the province
seeded a lot of winter wheat this fall.
“Estimates for winter wheat area ranges from 1.4 million
acres to as high as 1.7 million, depending on who you are talking
with,” Johnson said.
Ontario farmers normally seed between 800,000 and one million acres to winter wheat each fall. In the fall of 2006, the figure was
just under 500,000 acres.
