Updated: August 30, 2012 at 4:00 p.m.
Many areas throughout Ontario have experienced hot, dry weather which has impacted this year’s corn crop. In severely affected areas the yield potential of grain corn is significantly reduced. Production Insurance customers in this situation may want to consider harvesting their damaged grain corn as silage to feed their livestock or to sell as feed to a livestock producer.
Harvesting decisions are entirely up to the producer.
Customers who are interested in harvesting damaged corn as silage should contact Agricorp to file a damage report. An adjuster will then follow up within 48 hours. A crop inspection will take place prior to harvest to determine the extent of the damage and the impact on the yield. The crop that will be used as silage is recorded using the industry’s standard conversion calculation: one imperial ton of silage is equal to seven bushels of grain corn.
Given the effects of the dry weather on corn development, an adjustment factor may be applied to the yield calculation to discount yield by 10 to 20 per cent. This adjustment is made to account for underdeveloped cobs and would increase the potential claim.
Example: Applying a yield to grain corn harvested as silage
Scenario:
- You harvest 25 of your 75 acres of corn as silage to use as livestock feed
- Your silage yield on the 25 acres is 5 tons/acre
- Your grain yield on the remaining 50 acres is 30 bushels/acre
In this example, Agricorp’s existing practice for applying a yield to grain corn harvested as silage would be applied as follows:
Step 1: Determine silage yield
| Convert silage to grain corn using industry standard conversion (seven bushels for each ton) | 5 ton/ac x 7 bu/ton = 35 bu/ac |
| Apply adjustment factor for little to no cob development, if applicable | 35 bu/ac x 80% = 28 bu/ac |
| Multiply silage yield by number of acres harvested as silage | 25 ac x 28 bu/ac = 700 bu |
Step 2: Determine grain yield
| Multiply grain yield by number of acres harvested as grain corn | 50 ac x 30 bu/ac = 1,500 bu |
Step 3: Determine final yield
| Add silage yield to grain yield | 700 bu + 1,500 bu = 2,200 bu |
In this example, Agricorp would use the final yield (2,200 bu) to determine any potential Production Insurance claim as well as next year’s average farm yield.
If your corn is damaged of if you have any questions, please call us at 1-888-247-4999, Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. to speak to a customer care representative.
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