Cost of harvesting and soil compaction are factors. And the yield potential of new varieties has not improved much in 30 years
by PAT LYNCH
Ontario forage yields have not kept pace with the other field crops. Current Ontario agriculture ministry statistics record Ontario’s forage yields in the last few years as about 2.4 tonnes per acre. This has slipped by about 15 per cent from the early 1980s, when the recorded yield was close to three tonnes per acre.
Meanwhile, corn yields have gone from 94 bushels an acre in the early '80s to 140 bushels an acre today. This is a 40-50 per cent increase.