WINNIPEG, Manitoba, July 21 (Reuters) – Tornadoes, hail and heavy rain battered Canada’s crops in Manitoba and Saskatchewan this week, as recurring storms curb the upside of expected bumper crops.
Environment Canada reported two tornadoes touching down in southwestern Manitoba, causing widespread building damage near Long Plain First Nation. A tornado also damaged properties around Davidson, Sask., on Tuesday, the Regina Leader-Post reported.
Hail, ranging from the size of a golf ball to a tennis ball, battered a large part of southwestern Manitoba as well as some of southeastern and east-central Saskatchewan, said Brian Proctor, meteorologist at Environment Canada.
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Rain fell onto the southern half of Alberta last week, while hot and dry conditions persisted in the northern half, according to the province’s crop report released on July 18.
Canada is a major wheat exporter and the world’s biggest exporter of canola. Traders and analysts are expecting some of the biggest crops in recent memory, according to a Reuters poll last week.
Western Canada’s crops are still likely to be large, but in southern Manitoba, many crops drowned in the last few weeks under heavy rain that has not quickly drained from fields, said Brian Voth, president of Prairie Farm Consulting.
The rain has noticeably damaged soybean, corn and pea crops in Manitoba, and raised concerns about disease, with cereal grains faring better, Voth said.
“The good stuff looks really good and the bad stuff looks really bad,” he said.
Environment Canada forecasts hot temperatures to continue across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta for the next week, broken up by some rains.
Saskatchewan Agriculture’s weekly crop report to July 18 said.
Significant amounts of rain fell on much of the province throughout the week.
Precipitation varies from trace amounts to almost 100 millimetres.
Heavy rain over the past couple of weeks has caused crops to lodge, and they remain under flooding stress in some areas.
Lentils and peas in many areas of the province are suffering from too much moisture. Diseases and hail have also caused crop damage in some places.
