Quality wheat and smart corn

There has been lots of doom and gloom surrounding this year’s Ontario winter wheat crop, especially considering the shape of the crop coming out of the winter. Perhaps reality will set in as harvest moves further across the province but the earliest results are encouraging. Word from Essex and Kent counties is that yields are ranging from 70 bushels on the tough ground to 115 in the best fields, with the average around 80-90 bushels. Even more importantly, quality and test weight are excellent. If it stays that way through the rest of Ontario I’m sure growers won’t argue too much.
Word from south of Lake Erie is that Ohio may be poised for a record winter wheat crop. They’re crediting the cooler summer with putting less stress on the crop and allowing it to fill to its potential. Of course, their yield standards aren’t quite as high as ours. The highest average yield ever recorded in Ohio was 72 bushels back in 2000.

It looks like Ontario corn growers will get a chance to try out the new SmartStax hybrids next year. Both the EP and Canadian regulators have given the go-ahead to the technology that combines a whole bunch of traits from different companies in a single hybrid – Roundup and Liberty tolerance as well as protection against corn borer, rootworm, armyworm, black cutworm and western bean cutworm thanks to a number of different Bt events from Dow and Monsanto. Seed companies like DeKalb and Pioneer, as well as few others who are licensing the technology, are planning a huge push of these hybrids into the marketplace for next season.
The most interesting part of the new technology is that, because it combines so many different modes of action against insect pests, regulators have agreed to reduce the refugia requirement from 20 per cent down to just five per cent. I know a few researchers will view that decision with some trepidation but it’s a definite convenience as well as a yield boost for growers. Will the technology do what it promises without adding to the risk of insect resistance? We’ll see in a few years.

I’m also getting reports of some really good fertilizer deals in the countryside. Apparently you can now get 28% for August payment and delivery from many of the major dealers at $212 a tonne. Compare that to $475-575 in the spring.
The main drawback is that you need good storage to avoid having the stuff end up on the ground, causing an environmental issue and an economic loss. But at those prices it’s worth it.