ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER 11 FEBRUARY 2022 This research project received funding from Grain Farmers of Ontario. the planting can be done in the fall,” he says. He says that, beyond all the benefits to corn and soybean yields, soil health, drought resilience and nitrogen availability, the wheat crop itself can be lucrative, especially in the fall of 2021. “Wheat prices are relatively high, along with corn and soybeans at record levels,” he says, adding a cautionary note that wheat prices are subject to the vagaries of global markets and the wheat itself can be susceptible to winter kill and drought. Hooker says farmers sometimes wait until spring to see what the stand is like before forward-contracting for the crop. “Another factor is that, because so few wheat acres have been planted so far in Ontario, the price of wheat straw is expected to be at record levels in 2022,” he says. Including wheat in the rotation also enables the use of cover crops. “Because winter wheat is harvested in late July and August, you have four months to grow cover crops and produce biomass — and in the case of red clover, or the inclusion of other legumes, fix nitrogen in the soil so it will be available for the following corn crop,” he says. BRINGING WHEAT OUT OF THE SHADOWS With the data derived from this project, Hooker feels that wheat should be elevated to the status of soybeans and corn as a main crop, especially in the Great Lakes region where the environment allows it to flourish. “Since we’ve quantified the effect of wheat — in terms of an enterprise on its own, and its effect on corn and soybean yields — it’s one of the most important crops, and highly competitive with corn and soybeans.” This project is funded by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a five-year investment by Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments. l
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