Farmers in the survey estimated yields will increase by 7.8 bushels an acre with average yields running at 40.8 bushels.

Some of the increase in soybeans has come at the expense of corn acreage. Statistics Canada estimates the amount of grain corn will drop by more than 15 per cent to 9.9 million tonnes.

High input costs for corn and high prices for soybeans and wheat last winter made wheat and soybeans attractive alternatives, says crop farmer Alain Leduc, a Moose Creek Farmer east of Ottawa. What’s more, "Some farmers didn’t have the ability to finance the corn crop."

The decision to turn corn fields into wheat was disastrous this year for many farmers in the east. "Wheat is easier to grow and plant but harder to harvest," says Leduc. "This year it was a nightmare."

Seventy-five per cent of the eastern Ontario wheat was turned into feed grade because of a fusarium infection.

Canada’s near record wheat crop has been estimated at 22.2 million tonnes. The increase in the wheat crop is the result of increased acreage bolstered by yields of 42.8 bushels an acre.

September corn estimates by the Ontario Corn producers Association puts corn yields at 144 bushels not too far off last year’s crop of 134 bushels an acre.

In the west, Prairie farmers are expecting a record canola crop of 10.9 million tonnes.

Last spring, Leduc planted 1,500 acres of corn 1,400 acres of soybeans and 450 acres of wheat