By Kelsey Banks, Agronomist
Kelseyabanks3@gmail.com

The 2022 growing season has been quite interesting. During the flowering stage for soybeans and tasseling for corn, there were concerns about the intense heat and humidity. For some, there were worries about various diseases that could potentially affect the crops by reducing yield and quality. Although these worries were valid at the time, most of the grain crop that is being or has been harvested is yielding from average to above average. However, quality of the crop has been an issue for some growers.

Here is the crop update, as of October 19, for Eastern Ontario.

Silage corn

Most of the corn silage harvest has been completed. There were very few issues with the yield or quality of the corn silage, but it was important to watch the moisture levels during corn harvest. When corn silage harvest began, the crop was drying down quickly, so the harvest timeline was shorter than it typically is.

Grain corn

Harvest has just begun in some parts of eastern Ontario. Overall, the grain quality is good with very few issues. The yield has been variable, but typically has been between average and above average.

Soybeans

Harvest is coming to an end. Most of the soybeans delivered to grain elevators had a very wide range of yield. Approximately 1.25 tonne/ac was the average yield. Due to the dry growing season some of the beans were small and had splits. When harvest began, approximately 10 per cent were giving up weight.

Spring wheat

Before the big rain that occurred in the middle of spring wheat harvest, the wheat that was being delivered to grain elevators had no issues. However, after the big rain there were some issues with sprouting and black point.

Overall, this year’s crop has been decent. Like most years, there were some ups and downs throughout the season that had growers, retailers and grain elevators worried about the expected crop yields and quality. However, most of the grain crop industry was pleasantly surprised with the yield this year despite the growing environment and past issues that could have affected the crop, like the fertilizer shortage.

As harvest is wrapping up, this will be the last crop update for the 2022 cropping season. Thank you to the grain elevators, other agronomists and growers for their time spent providing data for these updates.

If you have questions about your harvest yield and quality, please speak with your local agronomist and grain elevator.