As we embark on the 2021 6th Annual Great ON Yield Tour, we are looking forward to meeting farmers who should be looking at their 2021 crops with much more optimism than recent years, given the strong prices this year. Ontario has had its weather struggles along the way in 2021, with some regions getting too much rain and some not enough, but on the whole Ontario is in better shape than the U.S., where the Western Corn Belt is still struggling with drought & heat.
The tour’s 2017-20 projected 5-year average corn yield of 169.6 bushels per acre (bpa) compares with Agricorp’s average over the same period of 176.2 bpa and Stats Canada at 162.3. On the soybeans side, the tour’s 2017-20 projected average yield is 47.1 bpa vs. Agricorp at 48 and Stats Canada’s 2017-20 average yield of 47.5 bpa. Historically Stats Canada is too low and Agricorp a little too high.

According to the 2020 5th Annual Great Ontario Yield Tour, the provincial yield on corn was projected at 183.3 bpa vs. Agricorp’s 2020 estimate at 177 bpa (Stats Canada was very low at 163.9 bpa), and the soybean yield was projected at 53.2 bpa vs. Agricorp’s 52 bpa (Stats Canada was at 50.7 bpa).
Ontario Crop Statistics
|
2,146,300 acres
Corn acres in 2021, -2% vs. 2020
163.9 bu/acre
Corn yield in 2020, +5.5 bu/acre vs. 2019 |
|
2,936,000 acres
Soybean acres in 2021, +3% vs. 2020
50.7 bu/acre
Soybean yield in 2020, +6.6 bu/acre vs. 2019 |
|
1,219,600 acres
Wheat acres in 2021, -5% vs. 2020
79.5 bu/acre
Wheat yield in 2020, +5.1 bu/acre vs. 2019 |
Ontario’s weather during the 2021 growing season has mostly been a story of East vs. West but unlike the U.S., here the West received more rainfall than the East. In July 2021, Ontario faced tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, extreme heat waves, random bouts of hail, very sunny days & very rainy days, and the province had its share of heat warnings. Dundas County lost 5,000 – 20,000 acres due to hail that shredded both corn and soybeans a mini-Derecho.


