Prairie production of winter wheat plummeted this year, mainly due to difficulties in Manitoba.
Production on the Prairies is expected to be less than half what it was a year ago, according to Statistics Canada estimates compiled earlier this summer and released last week.
In Manitoba, production was expected to be 99,300 tonnes compared with 571,500 tonnes in 2004.
Manitoba Agriculture last week released a report describing winter wheat yields in the province as below average with poor quality.
A difficult harvest last year interfered with Manitoba producers’ plans to plant winter wheat and resulted in a large reduction in acres. Excess moisture across much of the province this year added to the challenges.
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“The excess moisture stressed a lot of it,” said Don Dixon, director of Manitoba Agriculture’s crops branch. “Some of it got flooded out and then there’s been disease issues as well.
“All these things affected production and quality.”
The winter wheat harvest is nearly complete across the Prairies. Although the crop suffered in Manitoba, the prospects are better for Saskatchewan and Alberta, based on the projections released by Statistics Canada on Aug. 26.
The agency estimated Saskatchewan will produce 180,000 tonnes of winter wheat this year compared with 171,000 tonnes in 2004.
Alberta production was forecast at 152,400 tonnes, down from 196,000 tonnes a year ago. Manitoba and Saskatchewan both planted fewer acres of winter wheat last fall.
There were just under 100,000 acres of the crop grown in Manitoba compared to 360,000 acres the previous year. Saskatchewan acres fell to 160,000, down from 230,000 acres a year earlier.
Despite the setback, Bob Linnell, executive manager of Winter Cereals Canada, anticipates a surge in the number of acres planted to winter wheat this year. Seeding is already under way. Late August and the first two weeks in September are the primary window for planting.
Linnell said conditions for planting are favourable across much of the prairie region, although some Manitoba farmers are still grappling with the continued effects of excess moisture.
“I think we’re probably in the best conditions this fall we’ve had for three or four years,” Linnell said. “I think we’re going into a major rebound as far as acreage seeded is concerned. The challenge right now is to find seed of varieties that producers want.”
Winter wheat can be used for a variety of purposes, including livestock feed, ethanol production and milling for flour.
