With snow piling up across much of Southern Ontario, farmers are struggling to get one of the province’s main cash crops out of the field.

Half of Ontario’s grain corn crop remains unharvested and about 10% of the soybean crop has yet to be harvested, Ontario Agriculture Ministry crop specialist Peter Johnson said Thursday.

“It has been a sporadic harvest here, there and everywhere. Everything is just incredibly delayed,” Johnson said.

It is possible for corn to withstand winter conditions and be harvested in good condition in the spring, he said.

“It is all about standability. As long as it stands, you can combine in the spring. You will have some increased yield-loss because there will be deer eating and birds eating, but it is not generally a huge issue.”

But farmers could face substantial harvest losses if heavy snowfall knocks down the corn stalks.

“If it is laying on the ground, you just can’t get it into the combine to harvest,” Johnson said.

There have been reports of snowdrifts in some parts of Huron and Perth Counties that are above the level of the cob on the corn plant.

That situation is always bad news, Johnson said.

“If you get snow above the cob when that snow melts it seems to sit heavy on the cob and it will just suck that corn straight down and yield-loss in those scenarios are very significant,” he said.

The growing season started with substantial planting delays because of cool, wet weather. With a cooler-than-normal summer corn never caught up, pushing harvest into mid to late November.

“That is always a dicey time of year to be harvesting any crop,” Johnson said.

Source - http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/