Despite an extremely dry September that played havoc with plant establishment, the winter wheat crop across Ontario appears to be packing plenty of yield potential as it heads into the dormant winter months.
RealAgriculture agronomist Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson says the crop is not as big as he had hoped — estimates peg it between 1.06 and 1.18 million acres — but he’s excited about the condition of the crop, a sentiment echoed by many growers across the province.
In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Wheat School, Johnson shares the tremendous response he received from a grower poll he conducted on X to assess the condition of the crop. When the final results were tabulated more 94.5 percent of the 181 responding growers said their wheat was in good to excellent condition. “The wheat crop in Ontario is probably as good as it’s been in a long time as of December the 17th,” says a giddy Johnson.
Hey #Ontag. Michigan thinks they have a good wheat crop in the ground. 78% G-E! Is ours better? Tell me what you think of your wheat crop. @realagriculture @JoFollings @cropdoc2 @JoshNasielski @GreatLakesYEN
— Peter Johnson (@WheatPete) November 27, 2024
But the crop isn’t without its challenges. The dry September conditions created headaches for growers as they chased soil moisture at planting. Johnson notes that the desert-like conditions also left a lot of soybean fields short of nitrogen and sulphur, creating lots of yellow wheat fields.
Johnson says he doesn’t expect nitrogen and sulphur deficiencies to impact those crops because yield is determined in the spring rather than the fall and most of those fields had plenty of tillers to help them bounce back.
Johnson is, however, noticing a lot of fields with standing water, resulting from a string of rain and snow events in recent weeks. “Wheat hates wet feet. One of the things growers have to do is try to get that water off of the field — if they can at all.” He’s also encouraging growers to make plans to get out early in the spring and apply nitrogen and sulphur.
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