Strong early yields in Lambton County’s soybean harvest are offering local farmers a welcome buffer against rising costs as Thanksgiving approaches.
Lambton Federation of Agriculture President Mike Belan said a lot of progress has been made leading into the holiday weekend.
"Conditions are pretty much ideal and [we'll] probably be moving into planting winter wheat right after the soybeans are off, anytime this weekend and into next week," Belan said. "Dry fields and we haven't had to battle too much rain, so it's been pretty good actually."
Belan has his own cash crop operation with soybeans, corn, and wheat in Dawn-Euphemia near Oil Springs and said farmers have been happy with the crops they've taken off so far.
"Good strong yields in soybeans so far and some of that increased yield is going to help offset some of the high input costs for 2026," he said.
Belan thinks the corn harvest will start around the end of October.
"Most farmers will wait until after the soybean harvest is complete," he said. "If the trend continues and if it's anything like the soybean harvest, the yields will be fairly decent for corn as well."
Belan said while there is concern over fuel, fertilizer and seed costs they're manageable for now, but budgets are being monitored closely.
"It takes half a year for it to shake out for a farmer," he said. "By the time you get your income from the crop sold and finally make some purchases -- some purchases have been made in 2025 for 2026 -- 2027 might be a different story if you're purchasing inputs now for 2027. So, we kind of work on a three year lag time."
Given a lot of area farmers sell their crops to a local grain elevator, or Canadian ethanol plant, Belan said there isn't much direct concern over exporting to the United States.
As harvest season brings more farm equipment onto roads, Belan has some tips.
"We just caution other motorists to be patient," he said. "Tractors will be moving slowly. They are going to be making turns into fields and approaches where it doesn't look like they would be turning. So, we just hope for everybody to get home safely."
If conditions stay the same, Belan is forecasting the local harvest could be complete by the middle of November.
