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OTTAWA Some farmers would rather forget 2014, thanks to planting delays, harvesting delays and a significant drop in commodity prices. But after all the complaining down at coffee college, now that most of the stats are in, it turns out that yields are pretty average to pretty good. While the increase in corn yields from 2013 to 2014 yields were modest, the 2014 corn yields were significantly higher than the five-year average from 2009 to 2013. Southern Ontario corn yields in 2014 were almost 12 bushels per acre higher than the five-year average, while in Western Ontario they were almost 10 bu/ac higher, according to updated numbers from Agricorp. In Southern Ontario, corn growers averaged 175 bu/ac (with 89 per cent of farms reporting), compared to 169.6 bu/ac in 2013, Agricorp reported on Jan. 13. The five-year Southern Ontario average is 163.1 bu/ac. Western Ontario averaged 160 bu/ac of corn (with 80 per cent of the farms reporting), compared to 157.3 bu/ac in 2013. Thats their second-highest yield for corn. The best year in Western Ontario for corn was 2010 when farmers averaged 162.8 bu/ac. The five-year Western Ontario average is 150.1 bu/ac It was much the same across the province, with overall yields being about 10 bu/ac above the five-year average. The Ontario average was 165 bu/ac in 2014 (with 85 per cent reporting), up from 160.5 bu/ac in 2013. The five-year Ontario average is 154.4 bu/ac. The soybean numbers were a different story, as growers were close to the five-year average. Western Ontario growers averaged 44 bu/ac in 2014 (with 95 per cent of farmers reporting their numbers), compared with 46.2 bu/ac in 2013, and a five-year average of 44.1 bu/ac. In Southern Ontario, soybean growers averaged 48 bu/ac (with 98 per cent of farms reporting), up from 45.4 bu/ac in 2013 and up from the five-year average of 46 bu/ac. The Ontario soybean average was 45 bu/ac (with 97 per cent reporting), down slightly from 45.3 bu/ac in 2013, but just above the 44.6 bu/ac five-year average. |
