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

May 06, 2022

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?

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.