What’s The Impact of Planting Date on Corn Yields in Ontario?

A common refrain at the ag breakfast meetings held across the province every spring is “we often farm on last year’s weather”. Some of these comments float around on planting dates and yield potential.

For example, 2020 and 2021 benefitted from very early springs. While not always warm, dry sunny conditions allowed field preparation to start as early as late March in some cases and planting was well underway by May 1. Soil conditions generally remained excellent through both springs and large areas of the province experienced exceptional yields.

If early springs are our reference point, years where little field activity has started by May 1 might seem late. So, this begs the question – are we giving up yield potential every day we are waiting on field conditions to shape up now that the calendar has switched to May?