Soybean season kicks off

Throughout Chatham-Kent, soybean farmers are harvesting their crop with mixed success after heavy summertime rain.

This year, about three million acres of soybeans were planted in Ontario. Since 2007, soybean production has decreased across Canada with production expecting to decrease about two per cent. Soybean season usually starts in mid-September and goes until mid-November. In June and July, heavy rainfall hit most of Ontario and some crops around Chatham-Kent are faring better than others.

Richard Foster, who has been farming since 1957, planted about 73 acres this year. He said the weather affected his crop badly.

“It just about ruined it, but it improved in the last part of the summer. So I made slightly below average which is better than I expected,” said Foster. “It started out good. We had half planted and we were hoping it would rain, but once it rained it never quit.”

So far this season, Bill Elgie has planted about 200 acres. He’s had an average crop but Elgie, who has been farming for 35 years, is having problems with weeds.

“It looks like a pretty good crop. We’ve had lots of weeds, the herbicides didn’t work for some reason,” said Elgie. “We had to do a lot more hoeing and re-spraying as well.”

With the production decrease, nationally it is expected to decrease about two per cent, with a 2.3 per cent decrease in harvested areas. Laura Van Arkel is studying horticulture at the University of Guelph. She said the possible decrease could be because of the cost of international imports.

“If there’s going to be a decrease in price, farmers will plant less acres. If there is an increase in international imports of soybeans, there’s a less of a need for Canadian farmers to grow them,” said Van Arkel. “Canada could also have soybeans left over from previous years so there are tons in reserve.”

Elgie said the possible decrease could also be because of farmers planting more corn and wheat.

“I know more people are growing wheat this year than last year because it was wet so nobody got any wheat in,” said Elgie. “Whereas in Dawn Township where there is a lot of wheat being planted, they usually grow soybeans. So I suppose it is a decrease that way.”

According to Statistics Canada, production in Ontario harvested areas such as Chatham-Kent and the average yield is expected to decrease to 2.9 acres from previous seasons.