EASTERN ONTARIO: Most growers wrap up corn, soybean harvest in late December

MORRISBURG — Eastern Ontario’s corn harvest went well into December, with many farmers still harvesting corn or wrapping up after Christmas Day.

Morrisburg-area cash crop farmer Warren Schneckenburger said that the best harvest period of the entire season started on Dec. 25 and went until Jan. 5, when he wrapped up his corn harvest. It’s not unusual for him to find himself in a combine in January, but that wasn’t the plan for this year. The Schneckenburgers had 140 acres they planned to leave in the field to dry down for spring, but an ice storm that hit fields with already weakened stalks in late December changed their minds.

Fortunately most of the corn had dried down into the 20 per cent range, though there was certainly still corn above 30 per cent moisture. Light test weights meant disappoint yields, however, and Schneckenburger said it was going to be a crop insurance harvest. “Par for the 2019 course.”

There was still maybe as much as five per cent of Ontario’s corn in the field as of early January, said independent agronomist Gilles Quesnel. There was more than that before Dec. 25, but a fine harvest window from Dec. 24 to Dec. 26 saw a lot of corn get combined.

Fears about weak stalks and breakage weren’t unfounded, but farmers largely got lucky, he said. Breakage was mostly above the cob, which meant the corn could still be harvested.

The majority of the soybeans made it off the field as well, he said. About 20 per cent of Eastern Ontario soybeans were still in the field in mid-November. But what a difference a week makes. A freeze in late November and a snowfall and then a thaw firmed up clear ground and producers took advantage in early December, knowing soybeans generally won’t make it through the winter.

The December OMAFRA estimate put Ontario’s corn yields at about 158.4 bushels/acre, slightly above an earlier estimate but less than 2018’s 166 bu/ac or the five-year average of 165 bu/ac.