Widespread frost that covered a large portion of the western Canadian grain belt last week has dealt another blow to 2014 crop prospects.
Frost was reported in many areas of the West in the early morning hours of Sept. 10, Sept. 11 and Sept. 12, causing variable amounts of damage to standing oilseeds and late-seeded cereal crops.
Environment Canada meteorologist Terri Lang said many parts of the Prairies received below-freezing temperatures throughout the week.
Early morning temperatures of -5 C or lower were recorded Sept. 11 in grain growing regions of northwestern Saskatchewan and northeastern Alberta.
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Lloydminster was among the coldest at -5.3 C.
In Saskatchewan, temperatures in the northern grain belt dipped below freezing early Sept. 11, with the lowest temperatures recorded around Prince Albert, which hit -2.5 C.
Frost was more widespread in Sask-atchewan early Sept. 12, although temperatures were generally less severe, dipping one or two degrees below freezing in most affected areas.
Lows of -2 C were recorded throughout central and southern Saskatchewan, Lang said.
A general frost that extended from Swift Current and Kindersley in the west to Yorkton and Estevan in the east caused varying amounts of damage, especially on late seeded crops that hadn’t yet been swathed or desiccated.
“The frost in Saskatchewan was more patchy Thursday morning (Sept. 11), just because there was such extensive cloud cover,” Lang said.
“But on Friday morning (Sept. 12), we probably had the most extensive frost. Just about everybody south of the northern grain belt received temperatures below zero.
Lang said farmers in more northerly regions of Saskatchewan had a little bit of cloud cover and a little bit of wind Thursday night and Friday morning, which protected them from further damage.
“That helped to keep them above the freezing mark Friday morning (Sept.12), but they had already been hit the night before,” she said.
Frost damage is the latest blow in what has been a costly and frustrating growing season for grain and oilseed farmers in Western Canada.
In many parts of the West, farmers started the season with excessive moisture, flooding and cool temperatures that delayed spring seeding.
More recently, repeated rainfall and snow has further delayed an already late harvest.
In Alberta, growers in central Alberta near Calgary received 10 to 15 centimetres of snow early last week, which was enough to lay standing crops flat on the ground.
Temperatures also dipped well below zero in many parts of the province, with Pincher Creek near Lethbridge dropping as low as -7 C, Sundre reaching -8 C and Coronation hitting -3 C.
Grain farmers in Alberta’s northeastern growing regions near Edmonton and Vermilion also received temperatures as low as -2 C earlier in the week.
Further east, grain growers in eastern Saskatchewan and western Manitoba had hoped that late maturing crops such as late seeded spring wheat, barley and oats would escape frost damage and might still have a chance of producing high-quality grain.
Late-seeded cereal crops sown in early to mid-June were still in the early stages of kernel development, meaning they had escaped downgrading caused by bleaching and sprouting but were still vulnerable to frost damage.
However, below-freezing temperatures over the past few days have put to rest many hopes that late maturing crops might escape weather damage and qualify for top grades at the elevator.
Norm Hall, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan who farms near Wynyard, Sask., said frost is the latest challenge facing prairie grain growers this year.
“It’s been an interesting year.”
Hall said flax, soybeans and late-seeded wheat will likely be the crops hardest hit by recent frost.
In many areas, wheat had already been downgraded by sprouting and bleaching, so further downgrades caused by frost are unlikely, he added.
“In our area, there’s been enough bleaching that we’re going to be down a grade or two anyway,” he said.
“The amount of frost that we’ve had likely won’t take it down any further than that.”
In Manitoba, frost also touched the Red River Valley Sept. 12.
Keystone Agricultural Producers president Doug Chorney from East Selkirk, Man., said temperatures in his area dipped only a degree or two below zero but persisted long enough to cause damage on late-seeded or late-maturing crops such as soybeans.
“We definitely see this as just another challenge in 2014, which has been a miserable year from the get-go, really.”
Chorney said farmers in the Red River Valley were already expecting downgrades on most of their cereals.
“Our winter wheat was poor and our spring wheat is now looking like it’s quite poor,” he said.
“I think No. 2 is the best grade for wheat that I’ve heard this year in Manitoba. It’s been a difficult year all around.”
Cereal crops are still well-behind in development in many parts of western Manitoba, meaning they are still vulnerable to frost.
Lang said some parts of western Manitoba escaped frost earlier in the week thanks to cloud cover and wind.
