The Great Ontario Yield Tour predicts a record-breaking soybean crop

Soybean and corn crops are expected to be among the best ever in Ontario.

Photo credit: Winestains- stock.adobe.com

The Great Ontario Yield Tour is predicting the 2024 Ontario soybean yield will be 54.12 bu/ac—a NEW RECORD high surpassing the previous record of 53 bu/ac set last year. If the prediction is correct, it will be the best soybean crop ever produced in Ontario!

The Great Ontario Yield Tour is also predicting the 2024 Ontario corn yield will be 194.75 bu/ac, which would be the 3rd largest crop in the past five years.

“Soybeans amazed us,” said Henry Prinzen, CCA, Ontario Agronomist with Maizex Seeds, during his presentation at the final event in Woodstock, Ontario. “In many ways, the crop had significantly less mould than 2023 and exceptionally high pod counts, even in water-logged counties. These high pod counts and consistent yield estimates across the board in Ontario have set us up for a new record soybean crop at 54.12 bu/ac.”

Concerning the corn crop, Prinzen explained, “The 2024 corn crop had loads of potential, record stands, and visual potential for long ears. This potential was hampered by excessive rainfall and more heat stress than we expected during pollination. The tip back on corn was greater than anticipated. Southwestern Ontario was full of variability and late-planted fields from the very wet spring we had. Overall, Ontario still has a very strong corn crop, especially in some counties that often struggle, such as Renfrew, Niagara, and Haldimand.

The tour experts report the Ontario corn crop is clean, but there is a touch of tar spot in Southwestern Ontario and Western Bean Cutworm from Central to Eastern Ontario. The experts say there are too many tip backs from moisture stress and variability, with a plant population at a NEW RECORD high by 277 plants, but kernels around and length came up short in 2024.

The tour experts also report that the soybean crop is clean with a touch of white mould in Southwestern Ontario, but the east is void of the disease vs. last year.

The soybean plant population is also at a record high, with 3,830 plants more, and pods per plant were higher by one vs. last year.

The weather looks non-threatening through the end of September, so the tour experts are adding kernel and pod weight, and seed sizes are growing with no threat of frost.

The 2024 Great Ontario Yield Tour took place August 12 to 23, 2024, and saw Farms.com Risk Management Chief Commodity Strategist Moe Agostino, Maizex’s Henry Prinzen, and many scouts visiting farms across Ontario to check on potential corn and soybean yields.

Below are the yield predictions by region and by county.

Watch the video below to learn how Prinzen developed the estimates for the great ontario Yield Tour.