From inside Jim Sparrow’s combine cab, it’s hard to tell that it’s been a year of difficult growing conditions on the Prairies.
While straight combining a field of spring wheat north of Brandon last week, the monitors showed that the dense looking crop was yielding 45 to 60 bushels per acre.
Considering the extremely soggy conditions in many parts of Western Canada, Sparrow said he feels fortunate to have an above average crop in 2010.
Depending on the topography of the land and the timing of rainfalls, there are fields in Western Manitoba that are generating good to very good yields, said Ron Rabe, a Dekalb sales representative in Brandon.
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“If they missed the rain, the Brandon area seems to be yielding pretty well. We’re hearing really good yields through the Killarney and Pilot Mound areas,” Rabe said, citing canola yields.
“The yield ranges have been in the low 20s to the badly flooded areas, to we’ve seen some fields run well up over 60.”
Rob Pettinger, president of the Manitoba Canola Growers Association, has witnessed the same variability in his own canola fields near Elgin.
“In the same field, we had 50 bu. per acre and five bu. per acre,” said Pettinger, who began combining his canola last week.
Compared to last year, when most farmers had canola yields in the 50s or higher, Pettinger said 2010 will probably be a typical year for canola yields on his farm.
“I would say average (but) if you talked to a producer 10 miles away, he might say I’ve got the same yields as last year.”
Dan Mazier, who farms northeast of Brandon, has also been pleased by the quality of his crop. The fusarium levels in his winter and
spring wheat were low, which was a surprise given the wet weather over the summer.
And unlike other producers in Western Canada, Mazier is grateful that he doesn’t have to worry about getting the grain back to his farmyard.
“I’m driving a half mile over fields with a tandem truck full of canola,” he said. “There’s no problem that way at all.”
