Corn is doing well after a hot beginning in October, but soybeans still need some help from Mother Nature.
By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com; Photo by Matheus Silva/iStock/Getty Images Plus photo
Until we learn to control the weather and bend it to our will, ag remains under the thumb of Mother Nature.
As such, Ontario corn requires some much-needed solar heat if it is to reach the optimal levels predicted by many agronomists.
It doesn’t need any frost—and through September, that occurred. In fact, up until the Thanksgiving weekend, Ontario saw above-average season temperatures, which has helped push Ontario’s yield to at least the “pretty-darn-good” mark.
The 2022 corn crop was considered to be good but dry—the Ontario areas from Woodstock to Brampton just west of Toronto saw dry weather—drought—but in 2023, those areas have seen a fair bit of moisture.
That area shows an exceptional crop for a wide range of products: 166.6 bu. per acre in Peel and as high as 202.9 and 205.2 bu. per acre in the regions of Oxford and Waterloo, respectively.
Soybeans, however, have struggled in 2023, which means good prices for farmers.
A recent Statistics Canada report suggested that Ontario's soybean yield in 2023 would come in at 50.5 bu. per acre—which is up from the 48 bu. per acre realized in 2022 but still down from 2021’s average of 51.9 bu. per acre.
Farms.com’s own 8th Annual Great Ontario Yield Tour in August 14–25 predicted soybean yield in the province at 53.5 bu. per acre, which would have been a new high. To be fair, at this point, Mother Nature was being highly cooperative, and it was hoped it would continue to be cooperative.
But the Great Lakes Grain Tour that took place later, from August 28 to September 8, 2023, assessing fields in the Windsor and Ottawa areas, predicted a yield of 48.6 bu. per acre of soybeans.
We’re almost there at the finish line, so we’ll see what the harvest yields.