Foul weather has been causing foul moods as wind and rain delay harvest in some parts of the Prairies.
Wind hit Manitoba the hardest with some regions experiencing gusts of 94 km-h.
The Prairies are in the final stretch of harvest with Saskatchewan leading the pack at 91 per cent complete as of Oct. 3 and Alberta following at 74 per cent and Manitoba at 73.
All provinces are making strong progress and are ahead of their five and 10 year historical averages.
However, the weather has raised crop quality concerns in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan’s agriculture ministry and Alberta’s Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) are saying there’s a possibility of lowered quality due to the rainfall that has fallen on standing crops.
“Mother Nature is a factor that is very hard to control,” said Manglai (who uses only one name), an AFSC product co-ordinator.
The recent rain, paired with bad weather earlier in the growing season, has caused concern in Alberta. Hail in the summer, especially in “hail alley,” resulted in significant spot loss and increased moisture in some areas.
This followed a wet spring and hot summer, which caused crop heat distress and has increased the risk of lowered crop quality.
It’s not yet a cause for high concern, but according to AFSC’s most recent data, the crop quality estimate is lower than the five-year average.
“Harvest is around 74 per cent complete; they still have another 26 to go,” Manglai said.
“So that’s why it’s quite early to give the final determination. Probably in the next two to three weeks, we should be able to have all the data and have a better picture of what is happening in terms of the yield and the crop grades.”
Saskatchewan has also had it’s share of rain.
According to the Sept. 17-24 provincial crop report, the province’s southwest region experienced good fall rain with Gouldtown, east of Swift Current, recording 100 millimetres.
The North Battleford and Rosthern areas recorded 19 to 31 mm Sept. 24-30. Previous weeks also brought light rain to the province.
The rain has caused concern about quality in areas where crop is still standing.
Rob Stone, a board director with SaskWheat who farms near Davidson, said his area received about 25 millimetres of rain during that period, which slowed harvest. However, he wasn’t too concerned about the canola still standing. He expects everything to still hit the top grades.
He said he had anticipated “a very lousy harvest.”
“Every growing season has its own particular challenges, and this one ranks up there as another peculiar year,” he said. “Because (we had) sort of a drier start, really great conditions May, June, to the fact we were concerned about excess moisture, (then) some of those large hailstorms that came through third week of June, and then July turned into basically a record drought — again.”
Wind has also been an issue in Saskatchewan, with the recent crop report stating that it was one of the causes for recent crop damage. Stone’s area experienced “hurricane quality winds” around 80 km-h.
Swaths were blown around and lost, and canola pods shattered.
Some regions of Manitoba were hit harder than others, depending on the level of harvest completion. In the southern and northwestern regions, plenty of swaths were scattered by wind. In the southwest, approximately 25 per cent of total canola acres were still in the field.
Despite the recent harsh weather, some are looking on the bright side.
Stone said any rain, even if it slows things down, is more than welcome.
“As far as weather is concerned right now, I think we’re probably concerned that we will be facing the dry conditions again (in spring),” Stone said.
“It’s probably as dry as it (has) ever been right now, even with some rains. We really dried out this year.”
Alberta and Saskatchewan’s crop reports say topsoil conditions are improving slightly, but more is no doubt needed. Saskatchewan’s soil moisture conditions have fluctuated from week to week.
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