No stopping a record corn crop
By Farms.com
The 2021 Great Ontario Yield Tour team visited farms across Ontario from August 16 to 27, 2021, and collected more than 1,000 corn and soybean samples.
On behalf of the hosts of the Great Ontario Yield Tour, Farms.com Chief Commodity Strategist Maurizio (Moe) Agostino and Maizex Agronomy lead Greg Stewart are predicting an all time record high for corn with an estimated 191.5 bu/acre! (Agricorp’s last record high was in 2018 with 183 bu/acre).
The Great Ontario Yield Tour is estimating soybean yield at 51.7 bu/acre, just shy of the Agricorp record at 53 bu/acre also in 2018 and 2020 at 52 bu/acre.
The 10-year average sits at 174 bu/acre for corn and 46 bu/acre soybeans.
Both crops were very mature, one to two weeks ahead of schedule with hot spots of white mold in soybeans and Western Bean Cutworm in corn. The western part of Ontario was very wet, but the further the Great Ontario Tour team scouts travelled east, the dryer it became.
“A dry August and a poor finish could result in less kernel and pod weight, but there is no stopping a record corn crop,” says Stewart.
The results were shared with close to 200 farmers who attended the Great Ontario Yield Tour Final event, which was held in Woodstock, Ontario. Farmers attended ten demonstrations and one keynote presentation by Jason Webster, Precision Planting, “Why build a reservoir on your farm?”
Perth County’s Leuteneggar Farms had at least one sweet corn lover in the field during the Great Ontario Yield Tour.
Stewart presented the agronomy results from the Great Ontario Yield Tour and provided insights into yields in different areas across the province. Agostino provided a 2021 Grain Market & Basis Outlook for farmers in attendance, predicting that a record corn crop is a basis play and could put pressure on basis past harvest. “If farmers haves no storage, a basis contract with futures open to remain on the offence may be the best strategy for the end of 2021.”
Remaining presentations included:
- “Maximizing Fertilizer Efficiency with New ALPINE Bio-K Products and Organic Acids” from host sponsor Alpine.
- “Squeezing More Out of Soybeans: Early Planting, Foliar Feeding, Forage Supply!” from host sponsor Maizex.
- “Grow more with Less” from platinum sponsor GPS Ontario.
- “Drone Technology Helping Growers Make Better Decisions” from platinum sponsor TerraNova UAV.
- “On Farm Decisions Support Tools” from platinum sponsor Weather Innovations.
- “Chasing Moisture to maximize emergence uniformity and Timing of Nitrogen on Corn” from Precision Planting.
- “Mycaseih.com” from platinum sponsor Case IH.
- “How to get Commodity marketing at your fingertips with the Premium version of the Farms.com Market App!” from host sponsor Farms.com Risk Management.
A similar event was held in Chesterville, Ontario August 26 at host sponsor Derks Elevator. At that event, two alternative presentations were given: “Make Grain Without Rain?” by Peter Johnson and “The 89-Year Drought Cycle” by Dr Elwynn Talor.
Participants at both events, which were held outdoors, and followed pandemic safety protocols gave a big shout out to platinum sponsor Greenfield Global for providing “great smelling and effective” hand sanitizer.
Watch the video below featuring Greg Stewart.