Corn is the most important feed grain in CEC, accounting for about half of total feed grain consumption in 1995-96. Grain corn production is limited to regions with sufficient heat units and moisture, and is best suited to south-western Ontario and southern Quebec. In comparison, livestock production is more evenly distributed throughout CEC, resulting in domestic feed corn flows. This issue of the Bi-weekly Bulletin examines the flows of feed corn from surplus to deficit regions in CEC . Production Corn has had a long history of cultivation in Central Canada.
Evidence suggests that cultivation existed in Ontario ten centuries ago.
Before the first hybridized corn was developed in the 1920s, corn was grown mainly for on-farm feed use. In the mid 1950s, with the introduction of higher yielding corn hybrids, commercial production expand rapidly. However, because the hybrids were US varieties requiring higher heat units and a longer growing season, Canadian production was limited to the southern-most regions of Ontario. Today, grain corn is widely cultivated in Ontario and Quebec, with limited production in Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Alberta. Fodder corn, used mainly for silage, is also a major crop but requires less heat units and has a wider range of potential growing regions.