Moderate to heavy rains fell in eastern Ontario over the past two weeks, with the Ottawa Valley reporting amounts in the 50 to 80 mm range. The southwestern areas of the province were drier with amounts ranging between 10 and 30 mm. There were isolated areas that reported heavier amounts of 30 to 60 mm in the southwestern areas of the province. The drier weather in southwestern Ontario helped farmers wrap up the winter wheat harvest and make good progress on spring planted cereals.
Hot weather persisted across southern Ontario over the past two weeks with daily high temperatures mostly in the upper 20s and low 30s C. The heat has helped encourage row crop development with the corn crop mostly in the dough stage. Soybeans also advanced rapidly with the bulk of the crop in the podding stage. Rains and cooler weather would be welcome for the soybean crop to improve conditions for filling. The current weather forecast is calling for temperatures to moderate during the last half of August and the chances of rain to increase in southwestern Ontario.
Corn prices pushing US$5 level
Corn has staged a major rally since the beginning of August with the December contract trading close to the US$4.90 per bushel level. U.S. corn conditions were rated as 60 per cent good to excellent on Aug. 16, 2026. Corn development is slightly ahead of normal with 76 per cent of the crop in the dough stage which is six per cent ahead of the five-year average. Cooler than normal temperatures are forecast for the second half of August in the U.S. Corn Belt, which should provide positive weather for the filling stage for corn and soybeans.
USDA’s first surveyed corn estimate of the 2026-27 crop year has yields estimated at 180.7 bushels per acre, 5.8 bushels below last year’s levels. The yields partially offset the 1.4 million-acre increase in sown area from the June estimate. Overall corn production was estimated at 16.013 billion bushels, over 1.008 billion bushels lower than last year. USDA also lowered its corn ending stocks estimate by 137 million bushels to 1.65 billion bushels. The drop in projected corn stocks will support corn values during the 2026-27 marketing year.
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