Moisture altering Ont. farm plans

Nov 13, 2018

Some producers missed their window to plant winter wheat

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Cash crop producers in Ontario are being forced to change their fall plans because of consistently wet conditions.

Allan Bogart, for example, wanted to plant winter wheat on his Elgin County farm after soybean harvest. But rain, and now snow, has kept the combines idle. As a result, he missed his opportunity to seed his wheat.

“It’s not a good scene,” he told Farms.com. “I’ve probably got 30 per cent of my soybeans still in the field. We had four inches of rain two weeks ago and it’s snowing now. The fields are way too wet and cold, so (winter wheat) germination would almost be non-existent. That field is going to remain bare once the soybeans come off.”

The moisture is also causing issues for Bogart’s corn crop.

He expected a “record crop,” he said. But vomitoxin levels might affect his crop.

“I haven’t started my corn harvest yet,” he said. “People in the area I’ve spoken with have said DON levels are between 9 and 20 (parts per million). A lot of the corn is already condemned and won’t be useable for livestock feed.”

DON levels are potentially harmful to cattle when they are between 2.5 and 6.0 ppm, OMAFRA says.

“A lot of the corn is virtually worthless and I think, in the next few weeks, you could see a lot of acres (of corn) plowed under with corn still standing,” Bogart said.

Gerald Lamb, a cash crop grower from Huron County, also must rework his fall plans.

He finished soybean harvest a few weeks ago, albeit behind schedule. As a result, he sent his winter wheat seed back to the dealer and is planning another crop for that field.

“The soybean yields were good, considering the season we’ve had,” he told Farms.com. “But, by the time we finished harvest, it was too late to get any winter wheat in. So, I had to send the seed back. The field is bare now but I think I’ll plant barley in the spring.”

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