A dry spring hindered crop establishment, but producers say early returns are looking better than they first expected
Warren McCutcheon, who farms near Carman, Man., normally harvests his corn crop in October.
This fall, by Sept. 29, he already had 300 acres in the bin. The corn was ready to harvest because of dry conditions during much of the growing season, which persisted into September.
McCutcheon still has a section of corn to harvest, but early returns are better than expected.
“Considering how little moisture we had, it’s not bad. I think it will average 140 bushels an acre,” said McCutcheon, a Manitoba Crop Alliance director.
“In the middle of July, I was thinking we were going to be half of that…. It’s really shocking to be that decent (for yield).”
On his farm, McCutcheon normally shoots for an average corn yield of 165 to 170 bu. per acre. That was out of the question in 2023, seeing how it barely rained this spring.
“We seeded May 5 to 10 and didn’t have a drop of rain until about the 20th of June,” he explained.
“So, really scattered emergence…. Really tough conditions to get stuff to grow. And it was smoking hot in June.”
Growing conditions improved, but insufficient rain fell in July and corn plants didn’t recover from the early season damage.
Moisture was obviously the limiting factor for McCutcheon’s corn crop. Looking at the yield monitor, he noticed massive differences between the low and high spots of the field.
“The drought areas are doing 80-100 (bu.) and the good areas are doing 200 bu. (or more). It’s all over the map,” he said. “It’s kind of amazing to me how good the good spots were. There must have been some sub-soil moisture there.”
Looking beyond McCutcheon’s farm, the corn harvest is just underway in Manitoba.
The Manitoba Agriculture crop report, for the last week of September, suggested only five percent of corn had been harvested in the central region. In other areas, combining was expected to start in early October.
There were high expectations for corn this year in Manitoba.
Farmers planted a record amount of grain corn, as acreage went to 477,000 in 2023 from 289,000 in 2022, according to data from Manitoba Agricultural Service Corp., the provincial crop insurer.
Acreage jumped because of strong yields in 2022 and good prices.
The average corn yield in 2022 was around 140 bu. per acre, with many farmers topping 170.
With most rain from May to July coming from thunderstorms, an average yield of 140 bu. seems unlikely in 2023.
But there are regions where yields could surprise.
“The majority of the (corn) crop is in good to excellent condition,” said the provincial crop summary for eastern Manitoba.
“Corn harvest is expected to begin this week. Corn silage harvest is well underway and yields are reported as good to above average.”
For McCutcheon, his corn yields are both a surprise and a disappointment.
It’s great to average 140 bu. in a dry year, but yields could have been much, much higher.
“It just shows us how good the new varieties are…. It’s just frustrating that we ran out of moisture so early in the growing season.”
Manitoba corn growers who got a timely thunderstorm this summer and better than expected yields this fall may want to enter the Manitoba Crop Alliance corn yield competition.
For more information, go to https://mbcropalliance.ca/blog/whats-new-at-mca/corn-yield-competition-2023/.
