The corn and soybean crops are bin busters in
Northumberland and through Trenton and Belleville. Dexter Harder, manager
at Northumberland Grain, says the region is experiencing something very
rare – corn on most fields coming in between 140 and 160 bushels an
acre. Some fields have yielded as high as 200 bushels an acre. "We
haven’t seen anything like this since 1999," he said.
Prices are up, yields are up and drying charges will be
low. Unlike most of the east, moisture levels on the corn are down, some
as low as 19.5 per cent. Most of the corn is between 21 per cent and 22
per cent. All the corn is grading No. 2, he says.
Soybean yields have jumped form the 30-something
bushels an acre to 40 and 50 bushels. Some fields are yielding 60 bushels
an acre and above.
Quality is excellent. "Not one load has been
rejected," he said. "There is very little greenness and softness
is not a problem.
Debbie Walsh, manager of the Trenton Grain Elevator,
says except for the southern part of Prince Edward County, and towards
Napanee, corn yields are good, though when she was interviewed, between 10
per cent and 20 per cent of the corn crop had been harvested.
"Whoever missed the one big rain," she says, has lower yielding
fields. "Some people got hit again, for the third year."
Moisture level is running between 25 per cent and 28 per cent, though some
is down to 20 per cent.
The soybean acreage is yielding between 35 and 40
bushels an acre, about the Ontario average in an average year. The quality
is very good.
