Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Soybean harvest in Ontario, some have started, have you? When will your fields be ready? Check out the results ...

There have been a few post on Twitter today - see below - on soybeans being harvested. Have you started? When will your fields be ready?

 

Views: 3822

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Article in the London Free Press:

Crop Yields Amazing

It’s not what farmers and agricultural officials expected after a cold, wet spring and parched summer across much of Southwestern Ontario’s farm belt.

Yield reports from fields that have been harvested are being called amazing.

“The yields on both corn and soybeans for the most part have just blown us away. We do not hardly understand where these yields are coming from,” Peter Johnson, crop specialist with the Ontario Agriculture Ministry, said Thursday.

Johnson said there have been many growers reporting 50 and 60 bushels an acre soybean yields.

“We would have expected a lot of 30 and 40 bushel soybeans. The yields have been just outstanding for the year that we had,” he said.

The situation has been similar for corn.

Some growers are reporting yields over 200 bushels an acre and many are talking yields of 160 to 180 bushels, Johnson said.

“We would have expected to have heard a lot of 140 bushel corn yields.”

There have been some growers hit with lower yields - 20 bushel an acre soybeans and 120 bushel an acre corn.

“But the vast majority have been more than surprised and amazed by the high yields we have been getting,” Johnson said.

The trick for farmers now is to get the remaining crops out of the field before snow arrives.

Johnson said either dry conditions are needed or freezing temperatures that will allow farmers to get back into the fields.

Harvest is further advanced north of London where it has been drier then south of the city.

Some areas north have 80% of the soybean crop off, while areas along Lake Erie have only 20% harvested.

Corn and soybeans are the two biggest crash crops in Ontario, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The recent wet weather is raising the tension level for farmers waiting for a break.

Jay Curtis, a St. Thomas cash crop farmer, said it is putting growers behind the eight ball.

“It rained and rained, through the prime planting season, so we were late getting crops in.”

Curtis said the regions’ summer with good heat and timely rains helped to put the crops back on schedule, but now Curtis said, “we’re getting saturated, so we’re in big trouble again.”

John Ferguson, of Ferguson’s Fancy Beans in St. Thomas, said in an average year he hopes to have beans harvested by mid-October. This year Ferguson estimates 50% of the bean crop is still in the fields, and it’s going to have to dry out for a couple of weeks before any harvesting can take place.

Southwestern Ontario’s corn crops have a better chance of getting harvested, said Ferguson, because corn can be harvested even after snowfall, “making corn a much less risky crop.”

Corn usually must be dried down to 15.5% moisture, so a wet crop can cost a farmer, a lot of money in the form of natural gas or propane to dry his crop, he said.

“To take corn from 30% moisture to 15.5% would cost about 70 cents a bushel,” said Ferguson who noted that the current price of corn is about $6 a bushel.


Sally_SP10:50am via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Our Non RR #Pioneer 92M10's went 62bu. Happy to hear that! #Ontag #Soybeans

ScoutingFields profile

ScoutingFields Another soybeans yield comparison. Plot average was 55.5 bpa at 15%. All within a couple of bushels. Planted June 2nd at 70 lbs/ac approx.

thirlwall profile

thirlwall 32-61RY tops a soybean plot near Stoney Point @ 63 bu/acre

HustonFarms profile

HustonFarms Unloading our last load of soys into the bin this morning. I think everyone here was pleased with the yield. Not many years this good.

Reply to Discussion

RSS

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

Steady Ontario Planting Progress

Ontario producers continued to make steady planting progress over the past week, although intermittent rainfall and uneven field conditions are still creating a patchwork of advancement across the province. Corn planting reached 86% complete as of Wednesday, according to Grain Farmers of Ontario’s weekly field observations report on Thursday. That is up from 74% a week earlier. Progress varies widely by region, with some areas wrapping up seeding while others remain delayed due to rainfall differences, heavier soils, and lingering wet field conditions. Corn development remains in its early stages, ranging from emergence to the two-leaf stage, but warm temperatures forecast this week are expected to support rapid crop growth. As planting windows narrow, some producers are beginning to shift intended corn acres into soybeans, the report said. Soybean planting also accelerated during the week, reaching 61% complete compared to 39% previously. However, heavy-clay regions remain behin

Canadian Farm Debt Rises in 2025, but at Slower Pace

Canadian farm debt continued to increase in 2025, although at a slower pace. A Statistics Canada farm income report released earlier this week pegged total nationwide farm debt at the end of last year at $179.1 billion. That is still a 7.5% increase from the previous year but well down from the 14.1% increase in debt that farmers took on in 2024 compared to 2023. Meanwhile, StatsCan data shows farm interest expenses reached $9.19 billion in 2025, up $90.99 million from $9.1 billion in 2024, representing a modest year-over-year increase of about 1%. The increase in 2025 interest expenses followed a much steeper jump in 2024, when annual farm interest expenses surged by roughly $2.02 billion to $9.1 billion — an increase of 28.6%. That sharp rise in 2024 interest expenses reflected the impact of higher interest rates across the economy, which significantly increased borrowing costs for producers at a time when many farms were already facing elevated expenses for inputs, machinery,

Chicago Close: Weaker into Weekend as Crude Falls

Losses in crude oil weighed on crop futures Friday, as easing geopolitical tensions and improving crop prospects combined to pressured into the weekend. Wheat led the declines as traders removed weather and geopolitical risk premium from the market. Benchmark Chicago wheat fell for the sixth time in seven sessions amid improving weather conditions across key production regions. Losses in crude oil, due to growing expectations the U.S. and Iran could move closer to a peace agreement, added to the downside. July Chicago dropped 13 ½ cents to $6.10 ½, and July Kansas City dropped 15 ½ cents to $6.49 ¾. July Hard Red Spring tumbled 36 ½ cents to $6.72 ¼, and July Minneapolis lost 13 ½ cents to $6.63 ¾. Corn futures also moved lower as traders reduced risk exposure ahead of the weekend. Export demand offered limited support, with USDA reporting 1.015 million tonnes of old-crop export sales for 2025-26, near the lower end of expectations and down sharply from the previous week. However,

At Olds College Smart Farm, everything is new

If you take Alberta’s Highway 2 south from Edmonton toward Calgary, the landscape is pure prairie. The highway bisects fields that unfold endlessly toward a horizon that most evenings is a pastel blend of mauve and sherbet orange. There’s little else along this stretch of rural paradise, save for rest stops and the occasional lonely highway casino, their parking lots full of F-150s. Driving this route between Alberta’s major cities can become so routine that the only way to tell you’re actually moving is to count the passing farms that dot the landscape. One of those farms is distinctly not like the others. Just 45 minutes shy of Red Deer, in Olds, Alta., sits the Olds College Smart Farm. The 3,300 acres on which this part of a century-old post-secondary institution sits look like most other farms in the area. The fields rotate with the seasons between green, canola yellow, and gold. Its herd of purebred Red Angus cattle and flocks of sheep graze leisurely in the feedlot. But l

Lamb 'too costly' for some Muslims in Manitoba ahead of Eid al-Adha celebrations

A halal grocery store owner in Winnipeg says the rising cost of lamb has made it difficult for some Muslims to buy the animal or meat ahead of Eid al-Adha on Wednesday. The Festival of Sacrifice is an Islamic holiday that celebrates the prophet Ibrahim's obedience and loyalty to Allah, reminding Muslims of community and to practise gratitude and selflessness. On this day, it's traditional to have a lamb slaughtered — a practice known as Qurbani — and share its meat with family, friends and those in need. Khaldoun Majani said the price of lamb has nearly doubled to $28.50 per kilogram at his store since he started running Alsham Food Market in Winnipeg more than a decade ago. A lot of people want to buy lamb for Eid al-Adha, "but at the same time, they feel like it's out of budget," he said. "That makes it [a] little bit hard for some people." The Manitoba Islamic Association expects some community members, especially newcomers, to find alternatives to slaughtering a lamb themselv

© 2026   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service