Mid-Season Corn/Soy Review

Mid-Season Review

For corn and soybean growers, the calendar says we are well past the mid-season mark, but in many parts of corn/soy country, the crops didn’t get the memo.

With late planting and cool weather from spring through the end of July, it’s a race to the finish line for many corn and soybean fields. The “F” word – frost – is starting to pop up in farmer conversations and with market analysts trying to get a handle on whether we are headed for bumper crops and big surpluses or a potential shortfall should an early frost derail yield and quality across significant acres.

Whatever the future holds, it’s a good time to reflect on lessons learned to this point and some of the factors in and out of the field that will ultimately dictate how this growing season unfolds. I hope you will share some items from your mid-season review.

Here is my list:

1) Timely planting looks like a key factor again this year. It was a spring where planting occurred in fits and starts. Perfect soil conditions were hard to come by, but waiting it out does not look like a winning strategy this year because perfect conditions did not present themselves.
2) Cost control will loom large. Leading up to planting season, the high cost of fertilizer was front and center for many producers, but big land rents will also pressure profitability. With softening markets and a late crop, it’s looking like big yields will be required if cost control was not maximized. Last year we threw every product possible at our crops – those days are over. Are those big yields there?
3) Lost and found acres. I won’t belabor this point, but it’s been a strange year for acreage estimates from all players. The USDA and others were way off on early guesses (and that’s what they appear to be) for corn acreage. “Finding” millions of acres of corn sent the market into a power dive. Acres for corn and soybeans have been adjusted, and markets have moved on to other influencers – namely the need for an open fall.
4) Insecticide seed treatment on soys has helped keep aphids and bean leaf beetle at bay.
5) Perennial sow thistle is my primary weed issue – especially on non-RR identity preserved soybeans.
6) Slugs are really challenging soybean fields that are no-tilled into heavy corn residue from last year’s big crop. Too much moisture and slow growing crop has allowed slugs to do some serious damage.
7) Every producer I talk to seems to be rethinking their tillage/non-tillage strategies. The tough conditions this spring have everyone looking for alternatives that keep costs low, but reduce risk. This spring showed that there is perfect system. Vertical tillage is gaining momentum.
8) Now may be a good time to lock in some nitrogen fertilizer prices for 2010. There are some relative bargains to be had.

What are your thoughts as we turn the corner and head for the home stretch? What are you seeing in your fields? What factors will make this year a success or disappointment?

Click on Reply to This Topic at the top of this page to join the discussion.

Peter Gredig
Farms.com Media
Peter.Gredig@Farms.com

Next Post >

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Welcome to
Ontario Agriculture

Sign Up
or Sign In

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

Climate change worries Canadian farmers: poll

A poll released Dec. 11 suggests that Canadian farmers worry more about the impacts of climate change than they do about input costs and market prices for canola, corn, wheat and cattle. The poll of 858 producers from coast to coast determined that farmers rank climate change as their No. 1 concern. “When farmers and ranchers were asked an open-ended question—at the very beginning of the poll—about the top challenge for the agricultural sector for the next decade, climate change was the number one answer,” says Farmers for Climate Solutions, a group, that as its name suggests, is focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation within Canadian agriculture. The organization hired Leger, a market research firm, to conduct the survey. It was done by phone from Aug. 8 to Sept. 8. The headline question from the poll asked farmers to identify the top challenge for the agriculture sector over the next 10 years. The results? 17.9 per cent said climate change. Input costs were 17.2 pe

Livestock producers are warned to watch for a larval disease

A disease that lives off the flesh of living mammals has been confirmed in Chiapas, Mexico. New World screwworm (NWS) is a parasitic larval disease of warm-blooded animals where the female fly will lay eggs near an open wound and the larvae can infest the wound and cause significant infections. NWS can infest livestock, pets, wildlife, occasionally birds, and in rare cases, people. Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton said the confirmation comes on the heels of a report in October from Guatemala where the first case was identified. “This larva and the fly were identified at the Mexican border in cattle that were coming through in Guatemala and so this is a very significant concern of especially grazing animals but really of any warm-blooded animal,” she said. “It does cause destruction when a wound gets infected.” Animals can exhibit very painful draining wounds that don’t heal. It has a negative impact on production and can include mortality o

Durum Ending Stocks Tighter from November

Agriculture Canada has whittled down its 2024-25 durum ending stocks estimate from last month, although it remains up from a year earlier. Monthly government supply-demand estimates released Thursday showed durum ending stocks at 650,000 tonnes, down 150,000 from the November forecast but still well up from the previous year’s 407,000. The reduction reflects Statistics Canada’s Dec. 5 crop production report which put this year’s Canadian durum crop to 5.87 million tonnes, down from the federal agency’s previous estimate in September of just over 6 million. However, this year’s durum crop is still 44% larger than the 2023 harvest, 20% above average and the sixth largest on record. Ag Canada trimmed its domestic use estimate slightly to reflect this month’s downward revision in the durum crop, but left its export forecast unchanged from last month at 4.9 million tonnes, up from 3.558 million in 2023-24 but still below over 5 million in 2022-23. At $325/tonne, the average expecte

Alberta Canola Seeks Grower Support for First Service Charge Increase in 20 Years

Alberta Canola is urging canola growers to approve its first service charge increase in over two decades. The proposed change—from $1 per tonne to $1.75 per tonne—will be put to a vote at the organization’s Annual General Meeting on Jan. 22, 2025. The increase is critical to addressing financial challenges and ensuring Alberta Canola can continue supporting farmers amid rising operating costs, declining production, and evolving industry pressures. A Challenging Landscape “Alberta Canola was built by farmers, for farmers, and that hasn’t changed in our 35 years,” says Karla Bergstrom, Executive Director of Alberta Canola. “What?has?changed is the world we operate within.” Bergstrom highlights the dual challenges of reduced public research funding and increased regulatory demands. Meanwhile, consumers, increasingly removed from farming, are demanding greater transparency in food production. With over 90% of its operating revenue coming from its service charge, Alberta Canola has face

BMO underscores trends affecting Canadian agriculture

The Bank of Montreal has published an in-depth analysis of nine key trends. Here’s a topline of several economic indicators and what to expect in 2025. ???????

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service