News Harvesting
Ontario winter wheat harvest lags behind by two weeks

Winter wheat harvest has been slow to start in Ontario, lagging seven to 14 days behind last year, according to the latest crop report from Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).

The OMAFRA field team report that early yield and quality reports have been decent given the late planting date and challenging spring, but more acres will need to be harvested before any generalizations can be made.

Other highlights from the latest crop report include:

• The field team shares best recommendations to put quality winter wheat grain in the bin, such as slow forward speed while harvesting and drying any infected grain over 16 per cent moisture as soon as possible.
• A significant amount of annual weed seeds can be produced and dispersed after wheat harvest if the ground is left fallow. Producers are encouraged to plant a cover crop to minimize weed seed dispersal.
• A few soybean aphids have been seen so far but conditions can change quickly. Regular scouting should be done from now until the R6 (full seed) stage of soybean to minimize any yield loss with this pest.
• In forages, potato leafhoppers have been found above threshold and have resulted in visual injury symptoms.

Read the latest crop report from OMAFRA’s field crop team.