GFO Soybean Yield Challenge: Congratulations to the top prize winners George Ennis and Jon Bakker

Congratulation goes out to all the winners!

The top soybean yields were George Ennis at 80.2 bushels per acre and Jon Bakker at 74 bushels per acre.

WINTER WHEAT YIELD CHALLENGE AND SOYBEAN YIELD CHALLENGE RESULTS
Top Yields Revealed at Banquet Today in Ingersoll
GUELPH, ON (December 8, 2011) – Top yielding Ontario farmers were rewarded today at a banquet in Ingersoll. The event was the culmination of two contests: the Winter Wheat Yield Challenge and the Soybean Yield Challenge. Entrants submitted their best fields to compete against their peers and those with the highest yields were rewarded with great prizes.

This was the first year of the Winter Wheat Challenge and the winners definitely eserve their prizes.
 First Place, winning $1500: Lloyd Crowe of Picton, 150 bushels/acre with 25R56
 Second Place, winning $750: Zilke Farms of Woodstock, 140.8 bushels/acre with 25R39

The Soybean Yield Challenge was separated into two divisions: an IP division sponsored by DuPont and a non-IP division brought to you by Genuity. Within each division, entrants were separated into three zones based on crop heat units.

Zone 1 (2700 CHU and under)

Non-IP Division

1st Place Ronald Rody, Moorefield, Dekalb 26-11RY, 57.8 bushels /acre

IP Division
1st Place Jon Bakker, Frankford, S05-T6, 74.0 bushels /acre
2nd Place Schouten Corner View Farms, Richmond, S03-W4, 73.7 bushels /acre

Zone 2 (2725 to 3000 CHU)
Non-IP Division
1st Place George Ennis, Winchester, Titanium, 80.2 bushels /acre
2nd Place R&J Fraser Farms Ltd, Ottawa, 91Y90, 68.5 bushels /acre
IP Division
1st Place Ceresmore Farms, Bowmanville, Colby, 69.7 bushels /acre
2nd Place Justin Dorland, Brighton, 91M01, 64.1 bushels /acre

Zone 3 (3025 CHU and above)
Non-IP division
1st Place Simard Bros Inc., Oldcastle, 92Y80, 72.9 bushels /acre
2nd Place Robert Devolder, Dover Centre, 32-60RY, 67.9 bushels /acre

The two Grand Prize winners: George Ennis and Jon Bakker, each received a trip for two to the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky! All winners and runners up received admission to Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show and a local farm show of their choice. Winners in each division and each zone went home with a cash prize of $10 x their yield in bushels.

Grain Farmers of Ontario
100 Stone Road West, Suite 201 Guelph, ON N1G 5L3
Tel: 1-800-265-0550 www.gfo.ca

The production challenges would not be possible without the generous support of sponsors. The Winter Wheat Challenge was sponsored by Bayer CropScience, Hyland Seeds and C&M Seeds. For the Soybean Yield Challenge, the prizes for the IP division were provided by DuPont, the prizes for the non-IP division were sponsored by Genuity and the banquet received generous assistance from Pioneer Hi-Bred Ltd. Also providing support for the soybean challenge at the Gold Sponsorship level
were Dekalb, Hyland Seeds, Maizex, Mycogen and NK Seeds and at the silver level were Country Farm Seeds and SeCan.

Grain Farmers of Ontario
Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) is the province’s newest and largest commodity organization, representing Ontario’s 28,000 corn, soybean and wheat farmers. The crops they grow cover 5 million acres of farm land across the province, generate over $2.5 billion in farm gate receipts, result in over $9 billion in economic output
and are responsible for over 40,000 jobs in the province.

- 30 –
Contact:
Meghan Burke, Communications – 519 767-2773, mburke@gfo.ca
Erin Fletcher, Communications – 519 767-4137; efletcher@gfo.ca

▶ Reply to This

Welcome to
Ontario Agriculture

Sign Up
or Sign In

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Bison may not have future on Great Plains

The Great Plains has functioned as an ideal habitat for the North American bison for thousands of years. But according to new research from South Dakota State University, the grasslands of South Dakota and North Dakota may no longer be the national mammal's model habitat by the end of the century. Earth's climate has changed throughout deep history, with periods of both warming and cooling. Currently, the North American climate is seeing an increase in temperatures and variability in precipitation. That change is causing some species to shift their range as living conditions become unsuitable. The research team's findings, published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, suggest that the center of suitable climate conditions for the North American bison will shift from the Saskatchewan-Montana/North Dakota border significantly to the northwest, near the Alaska/Canada border, by the year 2100. While Canada and Alaska will become more suitable for bison, much of the contiguous United S

Producers suffer egg woes

Key takeaways • After almost 21 million birds were affected by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza from January to March 2026, detections have decreased, with less than 10,000 birds affected so far in May. The resulting increase in egg supply comes during a time of softened demand. • Retail prices for shell eggs are currently 62 percent less than in 2025, while prices paid to farmers for shell eggs have decreased 93 percent. Prices for breaker eggs, used for the liquid-egg market, have decreased to just 8 cents per dozen. That’s 96 percent less than in 2025 and well less than break-even levels. • Prolonged periods of less than break-even prices could force farms out of the market and contribute to continued consolidation in the egg industry. Egg markets have encountered massive volatility since outbreaks of HPAI began in 2022. Retail shell-egg prices hit a record level in 2025 but are now almost 60 percent less than a year ago as supplies have strengthened and HPAI cases declined. Th

The world’s game on a Canadian ag canvas

Bert Bos, owner of the 165-acre Bos Sod Farms in Abbotsford, grew the nearly two acres of hybrid turf the players will play on

Pulse Market Insight #298

Third Quarter Scorecard Positive for Pulses More acreage and very high yields meant much bigger Canadian pulse crops in 2025. Pea and lentil crops were each nearly 1.0 mln tonnes larger than 2024 and chickpea production was up by almost 200,000 tonnes. And for each crop, the carryover from 2024/25 into 2025/26 was also large, which added to the big supplies. With pulse crops facing extremely heavy supplies, a serious increase in export volumes was needed in 2025/26 to keep markets from being pressured (even) lower. And early in the marketing year, prospects weren’t great. In fact, the most positive developments only started to show up in the third quarter of the 2025/26 marketing year. While that doesn’t leave a lot of time to “fix” the heavy supply situation, the outlook is certainly brighter than it was a few months ago. Prospects were especially dim for peas earlier in 2025/26, with Chinese tariffs essentially shutting off that important outlet for Canadian peas. Indian demand wa

Progress Accelerates in Lagging States as U.S. Corn, Soy Planting Remains Ahead of Average

U.S. corn and soybean planting continued to progress ahead of the average pace this past week as fieldwork accelerated in some states where it had been lagging. Monday’s USDA crop progress report showed the nationwide corn crop at 76% planted as of Sunday, up 19 points from the previous week and 6 points ahead of the five-year average. An identical 76% of the corn crop had been planted at this time last year. American soybean planting was pegged at 67% complete as of Sunday, a weekly advance of 18 points. That is 14 points ahead of average and 4 points ahead of last year. In Michigan - where producers had been bogged down by wet, cold conditions - corn planting surged 30 points from a week earlier to reach 47% complete as of Sunday. However, that remains behind 60% last year and 52% on average. Soybean planting in Michigan jumped 25 points on the week to 37% complete, versus 50% last year and 46% on average. North Dakota producers also made rapid progress after earlier weather-

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service