The 2020 growing season was an overall good year for Ontario’s corn and soybean growers, according to Agricorp numbers.
Published Jan. 15, statistics from growers who subscribe to production insurance with Agricorp show the province saw slightly above average yields. As described on its website, the provincial average for corn yields was 177 bushels per acre, which is just above the 10-year average of 174 bushels per acre. Soybean farmers saw average yields of 52 bushels per acre – well above the 10-year average of 46 bushels per acre.
Why it matters: A mostly problem-free year was welcomed after several years of planting, or harvest, or disease challenges.
Corn
For corn, the highest yield reports were concentrated in a large triangular area in and between Huron County, Elgin County, and Chatham-Kent, though other high-production pockets were present further afield. Parts of Haldimand and Niagara reported lower numbers, as did several counties further east, including Peterborough, Hastings, Prince Edward County, and others.
Soybeans
Reflective of higher-than-average province-wide averages, soybean growers reporting 50 bushels or more were spread across a wide geography – from Simcoe to Bruce and Essex County. Again, Niagara, Haldimand, and select areas in the central east (Kawartha Lakes, Prince Edward County, and others) brought up the rear. Pockets of both high and lower yielding areas were seen across the province’s far eastern regions.
Other observations
Agricorp attributed a general lack of rainfall as the main cause for the below average yields seen in some areas.
The website also says 2020 “was an improvement for farmers from a challenging 2019, when they received more than $280 million in production insurance payments from Agricorp.”
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