CORN 'BIN BUSTER'

"This year is a bin buster said Rodney Craig, of Munro Agromart in South Glengarry County. "Yields are 160 bushels to 170 bushels per acre and that’s being very, very conservative. It’s unbelievable. Quality is fine. Every elevator is backed up."

In the first two weeks of November, 90 tractor-trailers a day, each carrying 40 tonnes of product, rumbled into the Port of Prescott and almost all of it was corn, said the port’s weighman Lance Stephenson. "It was an amazing year for the lads with the corn."

By December, the number of trucks had dropped to 24 a day, he said.

Why is eastern Ontario looking so good? "It’s the rain, rain, rain," said OMAFRA provincial crop specialist Greg Stewart. "They got all the rain they wanted. The west got 40 to 60 per cent of the 30-year normal rainfall. Areas that got the rain have record-breaking yields. It’s off the charts."

With a below average yield in western Ontario and an above average yield in eastern Ontario, the final tally should reveal an average yield for the province. The five-year running average is 135 bushels an acre, Stewart said. He said he won’t know the total yield from eastern Ontario until late December because "there’s no place to put the corn so farmers are not harvesting."

Across eastern Ontario "160 bushels is common on many farms and the yields are in line with last year," said OMAFRA forage specialist Gilles Quesnel, based in Kemptville.

Most of the corn is grading Number 2 and quality is high, he said. There has been some cracking, but that’s localized and not widespread. "Moisture levels have come down well and there is no mould."

Meantime, soybeans have been a disappointment, with yields running between 35 and 40 bushels per acre, slightly below average, he said.

East central Ontario reported average to below average corn yields, depending on localized rainfall, said Lindsay-based OMAFRA forage specialist Joel Bagg.

With elevators backed up in eastern Ontario, 35 per cent of Alain Leduc’s 1,600 acres of corn at Moose Creek was still in the field as of November 23. Leduc likes the yield but also the price. Despite forecasts of increases in fuel costs and input costs, crop farmers are optimistic about 2008, he said. "Today (Nov. 23) you can forward contract with a profit," Leduc said. Forward contracts of $170 a tonne were offered in mid-November.

"The market is still bullish," he said, noting forecasts of $4 a bushel for corn and $10 a bushel for soybeans. "The analysts say this is phenomenal. These are strong prices. Historically, we’ve been selling corn for $135 a tonne," he said.