How are the yields this year?
By Denise Faguy, Farms.com
A month ago experts were predicting an early winter wheat harvest. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs predicted that the wheat harvest would be as many as ten days early in 2016. Recently, the debate as to whether or not the wheat harvest is well under way in Ontario has been hotly debated in the Farms.com news room.
Armchair farmers, such as this reporter, relied on rural drives through the countryside and Twitter to demonstrate that the harvest had begun. The hashtag #wheatharvest16 revealed a number of Ontario farmers had begun harvesting their 2016 winter wheat. Farmers like Don Smith, @dsmitty11, of Thorold, Ontario, posted a photo on July 5 saying harvest was “underway” with the photo below.
Barstow, @barstowmiller, a cattle farmer on Manitoulin Island, wondered if Ontario farmers are pleased with their yields this year. Over Canada Day weekend Maurice Chauvin @moechauvin in Pointe-aux-Roches, Ontario, showed combines running through the wheat fields in the early evening.
To end the debate, the Farms.com news team is looking for reports from farmers. Never mind government experts or armchair farmers (in the farms.com newsroom). We are looking for feedback from farmers in the fields across Ontario.
Let us know what percentage of your 2016 winter wheat crop has already been harvested thus far by completing the following survey: Ontario Wheat Harvest, or by tweeting your percentage harvested using the hashtag #wheatharvest16.
Please note, while reporter Denise Faguy is an armchair farmer, a number of her colleagues at Farms.com are active farmers in Ontario. Denise normally relies on these farming colleagues for accurate agriculture information. In a rare moment that she will savour for years to come, she was aware of the beginning of wheat harvest before some of her colleagues.