OTTAWA — It was a record-smashing year for corn in Western and Southern Ontario, according to figures from Statistics Canada.
StatCan reports that Southern Ontario (counties of Hamilton, Niagara, Haldimand-Norfolk, Brant, Oxford, Elgin, Chatham-Kent, Essex, Lambton and Middlesex) had a record 179 bushels per acre in 2017. That’s up from 168.6 bu/ac in 2016 and smashes the previous high of 175.2 bu/ac in 2015.
It was much the same for Western Ontario (counties of Peel, Dufferin, Wellington, Halton, Waterloo, Perth, Huron, Bruce, Grey and Simcoe). That area saw a corn yield record of 166.9 bu/ac, up from 157.1 bu/ac in 2016 and higher than the previous record of 164.7 bu/ac in 2015.
The numbers come from Statistics Canada field crop survey in November. A final yield estimate conducted in December is not expected to change the numbers significantly.
Although many agronomists were expecting a provincial yield record, the Ontario yield was a little short at 167 bu/ac. That’s the second-highest of all-time, but below 2015’s record of 169 bu/ac.
It was a different story for soybeans, depending on where you were located. Southern Ontario growers experienced an average of 48.5 bu/ac, slightly below 2016’s average of 49.1 bu/ac. However, 2017 was still the fourth-best year for the crop. The record of 52 bu/ac was set in 2012.
Western Ontario growers saw soybean yields of 45.6 bu/ac, up slightly from 44.4 bu/ac, but it is the second-lowest yield of the past eight years.
The province averaged 45.6 bu/ac, up slightly from 45.5 bu/ac in 2016.
