Winter wheat acres are up this year but crop conditions are highly variable.
Poor fall moisture conditions delayed seeding in many areas of southern Saskatchewan and northwestern Manitoba, while a warmer-than-average October provided support for later-seeded crops. As well, rain fell over much of the Prairies after the crop went in the ground.
In Alberta, that rain was often accompanied by a blast of cold temperatures that is blamed for some fall-seeded crop losses.
“We think some icing of the plants took place,” said Craig Shaw, a winter wheat producer from Lacombe, Alta.
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“That cut off the air supplies and may have caused some plants to die.”
Snow cover in many areas supported winter annual crops, with the exception of west-central Alberta and east-central Saskatchewan where snow cover was poor.
In the dry belt between Saskatoon and Coronation, Alta., a lack of snow and high winds combined with temperatures as low as Ð 45 C over an extended period to damage winter crops.
Rebecca Wiebe of Cargill in Clavet, Sask., said growers she works with were forced to “spray out” their fall-seeded stand and reseed with a spring crop.
“It is patchy,” she said.
“Some did very well. They got some of the fall rain, their snow stuck and the crop looks good despite a shortage of spring rains.”
The crop is developing slowly, however.
“The late, cold season has really held the crop up as it’s come out of dormancy,” Wiebe said.
Bob Linnell of Winter Cereals Canada in Weyburn, Sask., said the slow spring has meant that in many cases growers won’t be able to determine the viability of their crops until now.
“People are out checking now,” he said.
“In most years it would have been three weeks earlier.”
Saskatchewan growers planted 180,000 acres of winter wheat last fall, but “until people make their permit book revisions we won’t know exactly how much will be harvested,” Linnell said.
“It was a bit of a strange year so far.”
Winter wheat acres are rising slowly on the Prairies because of harvest and rotational advantages.
The crop’s ability to aggressively canopy early in the season means weed control is often unnecessary, which saves producers money.
It also avoids having to seed in the spring, which can be a good thing in extremely wet conditions such as what has been experienced in southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba this year.
“I took some pictures of my own tractor and seeder after I buried it half way up the packer wheels in (the spring of) 2000 just so I would remember what can happen during spring seeding when it’s wet,” Linnell said.
As well, established fall-seeded crops can take full advantage of those kinds of wet conditions when they occur.
However, wet conditions aren’t always a benefit, said Rodger Sheldon of Manitoba Agriculture in Ste. Rose du Lac.
“I’ve heard that most of the province is pretty happy with the winter wheat this year, but some drown outs are going to be inevitable. It just keeps raining and everything is late,” he said.
“I expect in the McCreary area and south along the (Riding Mountain National) park towards Neepawa is probably developing a bit of a problem in the low spots.”
Winter wheat is catching on in Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan because it normally flowers ahead of the damp, warm conditions that spawn fusarium head blight.
Linnell said this year’s cold spring might delay maturity and push flowering into that fusarium-rich environment.
“We hope not because winter wheat doesn’t have much in the way of resistance (to fusarium).”
Leaf diseases such as leaf spot may also be a problem if dampness persists into the hotter summer season.
Wiebe said producers might have to spray to control the leaf disease, “but hopefully will be able to skip the weed applications in exchange.”
Bob Wheeler, a Manitoba Agriculture agrologist from Treherne, said winter wheat makes a lot of sense as part of farmers’ rotations.
“I’ve got growers in my area (of southern Manitoba) that are getting into beans and other crops and winter wheat fits into those long season rotations,” he said. “It can really spread the workload of harvest out.”
Wiebe said producers like being able to harvest higher-quality crops over a longer gathering season.
“It isn’t just the highest gross per acre that makes a farm successful,” she said.
“It’s the highest net, especially on an increasing acreage. Fall-seeded crops mean being able to manage the harvest season while spreading the risk.”
