Initial reports from from the provincial crop insurance provider, Agricorp show claims are 20% higher than average for the wheat harvest in Chatham-Kent and Essex.
Independent agronomist Peter Johnson says areas with heavy clay soils were hardest hit.
“Once you go west of Chatham, a lot of yields very disappointing on the heavy soils where they received way too much rain, some 40 bushel per acre yields which is not at all what you would hope for,” Johnson said.
Crop insurance representative Jim Zavitz says quality is also a problem, but in many cases it is covered.
“Production insurance does cover quality losses due to fusarium and down grading and we factored the yields down to increase the claim up to a producers guarantee of production,” says Zavitz.
The overall provincial crop will likely be about average because areas with lighter and better drained soils had very good yields, in some cases more than 130 bushels per acre.
Source - https://blackburnnews.com
