MANITOBA
SOUTHWEST
Moisture needed
The winter wheat harvest is underway and yields are rated as average. Spring cereals are suffering from heat and lack of moisture. Tillers are not developing and heads aren’t properly filling.
Greenfeed crops planted after the wet spring are stressed from hot summer weather. Yields will be affected. First cut of hay is finished. Hay yields and quality are above average.
CENTRAL
Heat stress in canola
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Winter wheat is yielding 50 to 85 bushels per acre, with good protein content. Early seeded barley fields have been harvested with yields between 60 to 80 bu. per acre.
Producers continue to swath early seeded canola. Late seeded canola is maturing prematurely due to heat stress. Aphids have reached economic threshold in a number of soybean fields. In the eastern part of the region, lygus bugs have exceeded economic thresholds on canola crops.
NORTHWEST
Hay yields good
Around Swan River and Roblin, crops are in the grain filling stage. Crops in the eastern half of region are further behind, but developing well.
Bertha armyworm trap numbers are decreasing, apart from the area around Durban, where producers are monitoring fields for bertha larvae.
Wild hay harvest is producing average to above average yields.
Pasture conditions are good, except on fields where early grazing caused significant damage.
EASTERN
Second cut haying
Soil moisture is rated as dry to good in the region. Drought stress remains a problem in areas with lighter soils.
More than 25 percent of spring cereals are mature.
Approximately 40 percent of the canola crop is ripe and swathing is underway.
Producers have completed first cut of hay and dairy producers are completing second cut.
Lack of rainfall in the region this summer will limit second cut yields.
INTERLAKE
Winter wheat
Winter wheat harvest is nearly complete with yields in the 50 to 80 bu. per acre range.
Early seeded spring wheat is at or reaching maturity. Producers are applying pre-harvest glyphosate.
Greenfeed millet has developed nicely in the warm conditions this summer.
Producers are taking advantage of the dry weather to clean field drains on unseeded land.
SASKATCHEWAN
Most of the province had warm sunny weather in the first week of August. Crops advanced and haying progressed. Provincially, about 88 percent of the hay crop had been harvested as of Aug. 8. About one percent of the crop had been combined.
SOUTH
Armyworms reported
Some parts of the southeast received spotty rain and large hailstones. In other areas, rain hasn’t fallen for a month so shallow rooted crops are suffering. The Weyburn area is wet and has received 443 millimetres since April 1.
Haying was nearly complete and harvest had begun on peas, rye, lentils and other early crops. Crop damage was reported due to hail and bertha armyworms in canola.
In the southwest, farmers were swathing canola, mustard and barley crops. There was little crop damage reported in the southwest in the first week of August although some areas received hail.
CENTRAL
Heat helps development
Rain in the east-central and west-central regions ranged from zero to about 30 mm.
Haying was nearly complete and the quality of the hay crop was rated good to excellent in most areas. Cutting was underway in peas, canola and winter wheat. High wind and hail caused crop damage in some areas.
Crop maturity is behind normal in crop district 5A. Hot, dry weather is accelerating crop maturity quickly.
Some areas welcomed rain to help fill crops.
NORTH
Hail damage reported
Rain varied from zero to 55 mm in some areas. Dorintosh in the northwest has the province’s highest accumulated rainfall this year at 514 mm since April 1.
Haying continued and roughly 80 percent was complete as of Aug. 8.
Crops matured quickly with hot, sunny weather although maturity was still behind normal in the northwest.
Crop damage was caused by hail, insects and flooding in some areas. Hail damage was reported in the Humboldt and Tisdale areas and across a large area stretching south and east from Meadow Lake.
ALBERTA
South
Good quality pulses
Ideal weather has improved crop prospects. Grain and oilseed yields are estimated at 110 to 120 percent of normal, although crops remain 10 to 17 days behind average development.
Pulse crops rated 90 percent good to excellent. Some swathing of winter wheat and fall rye is underway, along with barley silaging and pea desiccation. About one percent of crops are now in swaths but combining is yet to begin. Some cereal leaf diseases were reported, as well as cabbage seedpod weevil in canola, but most are below spraying thresholds.
Haying of first cut dryland hay is 98 percent complete, and about eight percent of haying is complete on second cut irrigated crops. Excellent hay quality and quantity reported.
Central
Rain slows haying
Up to 95 percent of cereal and oilseed crops are rated good to excellent.
Crops are progressing well under good moisture conditions and yields 10 to 15 percent above average are estimated. Some winter wheat and fall rye are in swaths but combining has not begun.
Canola and barley swathing has begun near the Saskatchewan border. Showers west of Highway 2 have hampered haying progress but activity is better in the eastern area.
About 80 percent of first cut hay is complete and quality is generally good to excellent.
Northeast
Clubroot reported
A least one field near Vermilion has heavy clubroot infection, indicating continued eastward movement of the disease. Continual showers added to overly wet conditions.
Crops are 10 to 14 days behind average development for this time of year. Yields look promising, with an average to slightly above average crop possible.
Conditions have improved slightly in the past two weeks, nosing up yield estimates. No significant crop or insect problems were reported. About 70 percent of hay and pasture rated good to excellent.
About 46 percent of first-cut hay crops are complete. Showers have hindered progress and will affect hay quality.
NORTHWEST
Frost worries
Storms and showers were reported across much of the region last week.
Crops are seven to 10 days behind average development and yield predictions on grains and oilseeds vary from average to 120 percent of normal.
Some swathing of fall and winter crops was reported but general harvest has yet to begin. Late crop development is increasing worry about early frost.
Spotty hail has damaged small pockets in the region.
Haying of first cut is 55 percent complete. Hay and pasture conditions are rated about 80 percent good to excellent.
PEACE
Grasshoppers reported
Rain last week added to excess moisture problems. The earliest canola is still three weeks from cutting.
Late canola in the south is just coming out of flower and will need frost to hold off until mid to late September. All crop yields will be reduced due to moisture. Grasshoppers are a problem in some areas, as well as lygus bugs and bertha armyworms.
Insecticide spraying has been reported. Pastures are rated more than 90 percent good to excellent but only 65 percent of first cut hay is off the field because rain has hampered operations. Quality will also be lower. Possibilities for a second cut of hay are shrinking as wet weather continues.
