Corn deadline extended for southern counties: Agricorp

Agricorp has extended its planting deadline date for corn for parts of the province.

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Wet weather has made planting challenging in the south of the province.

Why it matters: The deadline will especially help livestock farmers who need the corn to feed their animals. Many crop farmers have already switched to soybeans.

Agricorp says it consulted with the industry and decided to extend the corn planting deadline to June 18 from June 15 for Lambton, Middlesex, Niagara, Chatham-Kent, Essex, and Elgin.

The deadline will give farmers a few extra days to get corn planted to qualify for crop production insurance.

Much of Ontario has had a wet spring, with few days between rain which has made it difficult to get crops planted.

Decisions to extend planting deadlines for production insurance require approval from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Other criteria for extensions include agronomic impacts, crop conditions surrounding the planting dates, and viability of the crop.

“Decisions to plant within the extended planting period are left up to individual farmers,” said Agricorp in a statement.

It said that farmers should anticipate longer-than-average phone wait times due to the delay in planting in several parts of the province.