Ontario plants record corn acres

OTTAWA — Ontario farmers planted their highest grain corn and second-highest soybean acreages this spring, according to StatCan’s 2022 June field crop survey.

Grain corn acres are at 2,276,100 — up from 2,146,300 acres planted last year and surpassing the previous 2.25-million-acre record set in 2012 and 2013.

Soybean acres are at 3,080,400 — up from 2,936,000 acres planted last year and second only to the record 3,114,500 acres planted in 2019.

Winter wheat acres are at 848,800 — down from 1,081,600 acres in 2021, and spring wheat acres are at 88,000 — down from 96,800 acres in 2021.

Ontario farmers also seeded a few more barley and oats for 2022. Those small cereals stand at a respective 66,600 and 88,700 acres, up from 51,500 (barley) and 71,700 (oats) in 2021.

Canola also blipped up to 56,200 acres this year, exceeding the 47,700 acres of last year.

StatCan observed that crops were planted this spring amid precipitation levels below normal in parts of southern Ontario but above normal in Eastern Ontario.

A combination of high input costs and high crop prices — connected with the conflict in Ukraine — played into farmers’ final seeding decisions, according to the federal agency.

As the country’s largest corn producer, Ontario’s record corn planting has set the national trend. But the province isn’t totally in step with what’s happening elsewhere in Canada. As a whole, Canadian farmers are planting more wheat and slightly fewer soybeans this year, while the reverse is true in Ontario.