The 8th Annual Great Ontario Yield Tour took place from August 14th - 25th, 2023. This year’s tour was a challenge for scouts as we had plenty of moisture during our yield checks with ankle high water and lots of mud and lodged soybeans during the end of the tour this year. In total there were 619 counts done, 342 corn and 277 soybeans!
Despite the challenges, the PR Tour was consistently testing corn yields at 200 bpa or better for the most part everywhere we went a similar trend to the last record high in 2021. Soybeans were consistently testing 60 bpa or better unlike in 2021 with plenty of pods and top clusters.
The number of corn plants per acre was slightly up by 24 ears vs. 2021 record high at 30,450, but average kernels per row was higher at 17.1 vs. 21 at 16.9 up 1.2% and average kernels in a row was 34.7 vs. 21 at 34.2 up 1.5%. The soybeans are awash with 2021 with similar plant and pod counts but the heaviest producing regions like Essex County are outweighing the bad counties.
The Ontario corn crop is clean but more than 50% is immature and behind by 1-2 weeks so we need a great finish all of September to produce the potential we measured. The soybean crop is more variable and has more disease, particularly white mold, so it could drag on final yields if the finish is not full of heat and sunshine but there is more good corn and soybean crops that outweighs the bad. The 15-day forecast looks hot and dry exactly what the doctor ordered!
The 2023 Ontario corn yield is 203 bpa (a new record high - the last one in 2021 at 200 bpa) with a range of 201.2 - 205.2, while the 2023 Ontario soybean yield is 53.5 bpa and also a new all-time record high (the last one was 2021 at 53 bpa) with a range of 52.43 - 54.6. It’s the best corn crop and maybe even soybean crop ever produced by Ontario farmers!

