Large parts of a good barley crop are sprouting and deteriorating in eastern Saskatchewan and western Manitoba.
Rain and heat in the first week of September created high humidity, leading to widespread sprouting, which is now showing up in large quantities from the middle of Saskatchewan to across Manitoba.
“I didn’t find a field that didn’t have 90 percent sprouting,” said Yorkton, Sask., agrologist Jim Donovan.
“Anything that wasn’t harvested before the second of September has sprouted.”
Barley isn’t the only crop to suffer from sprouting, though it has been particularly susceptible.
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Many oat crops have been badly damaged by mildew and sprouting, said Bill Roszell, manager of the AgPro Grain terminal in Brandon.
Some wheat is sprouting, with a few loads being downgraded to Canada Feed.
“All the grains are really showing it a lot this year,” said Roszell. “It’s more than I’ve seen for many years.”
Roszell said about 30 percent of local barley is still in the field. Near Yorkton, it’s between 50 and 60 percent.
The problems are caused by the mixture of warmth and wet. Rain is quite common at harvest time but doesn’t tend to do a lot of damage unless there is a lot of it. That’s because sprouting usually occurs when the wetness and heat create humidity levels similar to those of a spring seedbed.
This year, warm air and a normal amount of rain created a blanket of humidity that wrapped unharvested crops in an atmosphere conducive to germination.
Sprouted barley is generally not good enough to be selected for malt and it is often rejected by feed buyers.
Donovan said many producers may have trouble finding people willing to take sprouted barley for feed, even though some American studies show it can be a better source of nutrients than unsprouted crop.
Terry Karwandy, the Saskatchewan agriculture department’s crop watcher, said sprouting is a widespread problem and is making a good harvest not so good.
“There’s certainly lots of it out there and consequently lots of pessimism.”
