Peace River area farmers had to wait until October, but good harvest weather finally arrived.
Warm, sunny days and windy nights in October allowed farmers in northern Alberta to operate their combines for more than a day at a time.
“Today is the best harvest day of the year,” said David Wong Oct. 12.
“We can see the sky instead of dreary and overcast,” said Wong, who works for Alberta Agriculture.
Farmers in the Peace have struggled for almost three months to harvest their crops, beginning with grass seed crops in August, which lay in the swath so long that sprouting began.
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Showers and cloudy weather that began in August continued through to October, said Wong.
“We’ve not had three to four days in a row of dry weather. Guys just gave up and just went.”
Selma Kurylowich of Grimshaw, Alta., said this year’s harvest season was the longest she has ever seen.
“It just kept showering,” said Kurylowich, an organic producer.
Even the canola, which normally is easier to harvest, never seemed to be dry enough.
“Everyone left their canola till last,” she said.
Romeo Lavoie of St. Isadore, Alta., said good weather in the past two weeks allowed harvest to wrap up.
“October has been good to us,” said Lavoie, who estimates most of the harvest is now finished in his area of the Peace.
The almost daily showers forced many to put their crop through a grain dryer.
“We had to dry pretty well everything that came off,” said Lavoie.
“It’s better to dry and have it off than leave it outside in the field.”
Calvin Yoder, with Alberta Agriculture in Spirit River, said showers slowed harvest in the central Peace, especially during August when the grass seed was ready.
“It was an awful year for combining fescue. August was a terrible month for getting anything off,” said Yoder.
While the warm weather has helped many farmers finish harvest, Yoder said an early snowfall and extra rain in the Beaverlodge and Hythe areas at the beginning of the month likely means farmers in the south Peace will be the last to put their combines away.
However, hay crops and pasture thrived under the cool, wet weather, he said.
“There’s lots of feed around and it’s reasonably priced.”
