Central Lambton farmers are seeing record making soybean yields.
Kevin Marriott of the Lambton Grain Farmers says soybeans were very similar to the record-breaking wheat harvest this summer. “Normally, we would think low 50 (bushels per acre) is a great crop and the all time high was high 50s, around 58. This year it went almost into the high 60s,” he says.
Marriott says the high yield is only part of the good news – prices for beans are still strong. “We have not bad prices; it has dropped off in the last few weeks, but it is still better than the five-year average. We peaked at about $15 or $16 (per bushel) and right now it is around $12.50 or $13.” The low Canadian dollar is also helping boost profits.
Marriott says the strong soybean crop is a bit surprising on the heals of a great wheat harvest. “You don’t expect wheat and beans both to be that high,” he says. And Marriott is hopeful, the next grain harvest – corn – could be just as strong. “We were thinking corn might have a barely average crop but what is coming off the field now is a good solid average yield. To have that with all three grain crops…it’s pretty darn good.”
