Current conditions | Rains have done more good than harm, says a canola specialist
Prairie crops appear to be thriving despite excessive moisture in much of the region.
Keith Gabert, an agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, said torrential rains have done more good than harm based on his recent travels from Peace River to Saskatoon.
“There are some fantastic looking fields across that area,” said Gabert, who was working near Red Deer when reached by telephone.
“I’m driving past a canola field that could easily keep a commercial cabbage guy happy with how healthy and colourful the crop looks. So I’m going with it’s a great year still.”
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Neil Townsend, director of CWB Market Research, thinks the rain has added three or more bushels per acre to wheat and barley crops.
“Right now, on June 28, it’s like a garden plot,” he said. “Crops look great.”
June precipitation levels ranged from 150 percent to in excess of 200 percent of normal for much of southern Alberta, western and southern Saskatchewan and eastern Manitoba, according to Agriculture Canada moisture maps.
Many of those same regions have received precipitation levels in the 80 to 100 percentile range for the entire growing season since April 1, which means 20 percent or fewer years have been this wet in those areas, said Dan Kulak, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
Gabert said the field he was observing near Red Deer “couldn’t look much better if the guy bribed somebody.” And that isn’t out of the ordinary this year.
“(Crops) have got a nice dark green to that dark green-blue colour, which to a canola producer is almost like the colour of money,” he said.
“The proportion of fields that are really starting to look good should be making us optimistic.”
He believes farmers are in store for above-average canola yields despite some of the typical agronomic problems that accompany excess moisture. The biggest challenge for canola growers will be sclerotinia, which was prevalent across much of Western Canada in 2012.
“The weather conditions this year really are lining up like sclerotinia should be a concern,” he said.
“Growers know that. Talking to the retailers, there is clearly high demand for fungicide.”
Canola crops are nearing the six-leaf stage of development, which means the window for weed control is closing.
Some fields are too wet to accommodate sprayers and others have deep ruts caused by machinery.
Heavy precipitation can also cause leaching of nitrogen and sulfur in lighter soil and denitrification in heavier soil.
Gabert expects it to be particularly prevalent south of Calgary, where a lot of flooding occurred.
He expects there will be higher than normal top-dressing of crops across the Prairies as farmers endeavor to protect yields.
Townsend said the one drawback for wheat and barley crops is that all the rain may reduce crop quality, although that will largely be determined in July and August.
Protein spreads that have been non-existent for much of the year are starting to appear.
For instance, there was a five cent spread between No. 2 CWRS 13.5 percent and No. 2 CWRS 13 percent wheat at Thunder Bay late last week.
“That’s an indication that people are kind of thinking it’s going to be a big, low protein crop,” said Townsend.
Not everybody is enjoying the downpours. He estimates three to five percent of fields in large parts of Western Canada have been lost to flooding.
Gabert said some canola crops have undoubtedly been set back or lost in waterlogged soil.
However, fields are drying up faster than expected, and the rain has boosted yield potential in areas such as Oyen, Alta., and Hanna, Alta., that don’t typically receive much precipitation.
“At the moment, there are very few places that are complaining they are too dry. That generally means good yields,” said Gabert.
“I would say canola condition is above average.”
He said an ideal weather forecast for canola crops would be dry weather before flowering to reduce the risk of sclerotinia and for temperatures to stay below 26 C during flowering to aid in pod set.
