(Resource News International) — The warm and dry weather experienced during much of September provided the necessary conditions that allowed the soybean crop in Ontario to mature enough to harvest, according to an official with the Ontario provincial government.
“The harvest of Ontario`s soybean crop is only about 10 to 20 per cent complete as wet and cool weather has prevented producers from getting out on the fields,” said Horst Bohner, a soybean specialist for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs at Stratford. “September made the soybean crop as it was looking pretty dire at the end of August.”
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Wet, cool weather has not provided producers with a lot of opportunity to do much in the way of harvest activity, he said. However, warmer and drier conditions have been forecast and if that weather is realized, producers will be quickly back in the fields harvesting.
“If we can get a couple days of dry and warm weather, the soybean harvest in Ontario would progress at a very rapid pace,” Bohner said, adding that harvest activities could be wrapped up by the middle of next week.
The soybean harvest is definitely later than it should be, Bohner said.
Soybeans in the fields are fine despite the wet and cool weather conditions due to the maturity of the crop, he said. The soybean crop is also not vulnerable to a frost as the crop was past the point that damage would occur.
The quality of the soybeans that have been harvested to date have been better than expected, as have yields, Bohner said.
The area planted to soybeans in Ontario during the spring of 2009 totalled a record 2.4 million acres. In 2008, 2.1 million acres of soybeans were planted in the province. The previous record was established in 2004 at 2.3 million.
Bohner speculated soybean area in Ontario in the spring of 2010 may be able to duplicate this year’s record level.
“Right now there is the possibility of less area being seeded to winter wheat due to the late soybean harvest, and that area could go back to soybeans next spring,” he said.
The better than anticipated yields for soybeans could also be a factor in the decision to plant soybeans.
“However, the main deciding factor, as it is usually, will be the price for soybeans and the weather conditions at the time of seeding in the spring,” Bohner said.
