OTTAWA — Planted corn acres will increase this year while soybean acres will trend down, says Statistics Canada.
According to the April 23 principal field crop report, Ontario farmers are expected to plant 2.09 million acres of corn. That’s up from 1.85 million acres in 2014, but is the second lowest since 2010.
Soybeans, on the other hand, will see a dip from a record 3.07 million acres planted last year to an expected 2.87 million acres this year. But that will still be the second-highest soybean acreage ever planted in Ontario.
Ontario farmers will account for about 57 per cent of all corn and soybean acres planted across Canada this season. Nationally, 3.27 million acres of corn and 5.38 million acres of soybeans are expected to be planted this year.
Last year was the first year any edible crop hit the three-million planting mark in Ontario, but much of that was due to a late spring and bad weather during planting season convincing some farmers to switch from corn to soybeans.
The last time Ontario farmers planted more corn than soybeans was in 1993.
The outlook surveyed about 11,500 farmers across Canada from March 18 to 31 about their planting intentions.
