What’s more, the price of corn dropped to under $5 a bushel, all the way from the magical high of $8 last winter.

Yet eastern farmers are having a stellar year, says Alain Leduc, a cash crop farmer in Moose Creek, east of Ottawa.

"It’s been a tremendous (price) slide," says Leduc, but if farmers forward contract the way most advisors recommend they should be all right. He says don’t aim at the high price and avoid the low. "Go for a good average."

Though the weather has been cold and damp, the corn crop is in better condition than it might appear. On September 1, the Ontario Corn Producers Association (OCPA) estimated yields across Ontario would be 142 bushels an acre, though that can change from farm to farm. "We (eastern Ontario) won’t be hurting that average. We may be a little higher," says Don Kenny, an OCPA director at Stittsville. About 10 per cent of the corn in Carleton County will come in at a low bushel weight, he says. Most farmers planted corn with heat units matching their area so they didn’t get hurt much by frost, he said.

In Picton, Lloyd Crowe, a director with the OCPA, says traditionally droughty Prince Edward County could be averaging 150 bushels of corn per acre.

The steep drop in the price of corn is worrisome but he’s sold a good percentage of his corn to the plant in Johnston for a "pretty good price.

"We’ll be storing what already hasn’t been sold," he said.

Kenny says the corn price had been inflated by speculators, who now because of the meltdown in the U.S. are panicking. He’s concerned because the current price is around the support price listed in the Risk Management Program.

Though the volatility in the commodity market makes planning difficult for farmers, Leduc is optimistic. "World grain reserv