57 Story Idea? Email Paul.Nolan@Farms.com Better Farming | November 2024 This year’s planting season got off to a delayed start in Ontario due to too much moisture from continuous rains. The case was similar in many parts of the U.S. Midwest and Western Canada as well. Planting delays in Ontario, in turn, delayed crop development in some regions. Heavy clay soils fared the worst as continuous rains caused some switching of intended corn acres to soybeans. Statistics Canada data showed that there was a sizable reduction in this year’s acreage of corn in Ontario from the March intentions to the June acreage estimates – it dropped from 2.27 million acres to 2.16 million. By a similar token, soybean acreage estimates increased from 3.04 million acres to 3.12 million during the same period. The 2024 Ninth Annual Great Ontario Yield Tour took place from Aug. 12-23. Scouts on tour went into fields around the province and collected close to 740 samples of corn and soybeans. Last year’s tour projected record corn and soybean yields at 203 bushels per acre (bpa) and 53.5 bpa, respectively. This compares to Agricorp’s final yield estimates at 202 bpa and 53 bpa, respectively. The tour’s five-year (2019-2023) average for the projected corn yield was 188.8 bushels per acre (bpa) versus the Agricorp average over the same period of 186.5 bpa. On the soybean side, the tour’s five-year average projected yield was 50.8 bpa and that compares to Agricorp’s 50.3 bpa. Looking at the province from an east versus west perspective, this year’s cropping season had crop heat units in the east that were above normal, although not as high as last year. The crop heat units in the west were higher than last year. It was quite warm during the crop development period this year. In terms of average rainfall, for the east, it was way above normal and above last year during the cropping season. The west, on average, had less rain in July and sporadic rain in some cases, but some fields and locations got too much continuous rain, and that excess moisture is expected to have weighed on yields. THE 2024 GREAT ONTARIO YIELD TOUR Big crops amidst weather-related challenges. By Moe Agostino & Abhinesh Gopal Moe’s Market Minute It looks to be a big year for soybean crops, which adds to the North American supply surplus. Leslie Stewart photo
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