OTTAWA — Last year’s Eastern Ontario corn yields were the lowest since the 2012 drought year, according to Statistics Canada.
StatCan reported 2016 yields of 147.2 bushels per acre for Eastern Ontario — made up of the counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Prescott and Russell, Ottawa, Leeds and Grenville, Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington and Renfrew. That’s down from 2015’s record 177 bu/ac, but still higher than the 134.7 bu/ac experienced during 2012. The five-year average is 152.5.
Soybean yields were also down from 2015 records but were much closer to the five-year average. Last year’s soybean yields were 43.5 bu/ac, down from 51.8 bu/ac in 2015. The five-year average is 44.7 bu/ac.
The news wasn’t as cheerful for farmers in Central Ontario, composed of the counties of Hastings, Prince Edward, Northumberland, Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes, Durham, York, Toronto, Muskoka, Haliburton and Parry Sound. StatCan said farmers there saw an average corn yield of 117.5 bu/ac.
Central Ontario soybean yields were at 32.3 bu/ac, down from 41.1 bu/ac in 2015 and the lowest since 23.2 bu/ac in 2007. The five-year average is 39 bu/ac.
As a whole, Ontario was close to its five-year average in both crops. The Ontario corn crop yielded 158.5 bu/ac in 2016, down slightly from the five-year average of 160.7, while the soybean yields were 45.9 bu/ac, down from the five-year average of 46.5 bu/ac.
