Erin Hoogeveen quickly became a photographer when her combine’s yield monitor started reading 140 bushels per acre.
She used her cellphone to photograph the monitor while the bumper crop sucked the horsepower out of the combine.
Three days into combining, the farm near Springwater, Sask., is averaging 80 bushels per acre on its spring wheat.
“That’s pretty spectacular,” Hoogeveen said. “That’s something we’ve never seen in our lifetime. When we saw the yield monitor jump to 140 bu. an acre at times, it was shocking.… I was snapping pictures with my Blackberry of the yield monitor when we were combining. You just couldn’t believe it.”
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Added her husband, Jeff: “I was expecting 60, I got 80.”
The Hoogeveens are not alone.
Dennis Bulani of Rack Petroleum in Biggar, Sask., who owns the Ultimate Yields program, said west-central Saskatchewan is experiencing a year of record-breaking crop yields.
“This Biggar area for sure, probably the best crop stands that I’ve ever seen, other than where it was hailed,” he said.
A massive hailstorm recently drove through the area and pounded many fields. Bulani said higher commodity prices encouraged prairie farmers to invest more money on their crops.
In his area, he added, weather conditions were almost ideal with good reserve moisture going into planting along with a combination of rain and heat during the growing season.
“Crops are so good that even the poor farmers are going to have big crops,” he said.
“Even if you did things wrong you’ve got a good crop because of conditions. Not in all cases, but by and large.”
Added Hoogeveen: “When in history have you been able to book $12 canola right from last Christmas through to current? We’ve never had opportunities like that. So it makes chasing a big crop a safer decision.”
Not far from the Hoogeveen’s farm, 93 bu. per acre were harvested from a field of peas at the Big Rose Hill Hutterite Colony.
“That’s the highest recorded yield on peas that I’ve heard ever. That’s an anomaly field, but a lot of other customers are reporting 60s and 70s,” said Bulani. Forty to 60 bu. per acre are more typical, he added.
Colony field boss Glen Walter said he used the weigh wagon to confirm 92.76 bu. per acre.
“Being happy is an understatement. I thought the guys combining were pulling my leg because we never had anything more than 70 bu. for a pea crop.”
But it’s not all smiles in Saskatchewan.
Provincial crop specialist Grant McLean said the farmer mood ranges from pleased to disappointed.
“Sometimes they’re pleased with their canola, but disappointed with their lentils, vice versa, depending on the area and the kind of cropping conditions they’ve had, or what they’re dealing with throughout the growing season.”
McLean said higher than normal yields are particularly prevalent in western Saskatchewan, where good moisture and higher prices encouraged producers to invest more in inputs, especially fertilizer. Many producers applied fungicides where they may not have done so in the past to protect their crops from diseases.
Many of these farmers are now seeing this investment pay off.
“I just talked to a producer this morning and he indicated definitely, particularly with the leaf diseases, their fungicide applications were well worth the investment,” McLean said.
Cooler weather and varying degrees of precipitation slowed harvest in many areas of the province last week. The Hoogeveens have only started combining, with 95 percent of their crop still in field.
Despite following a detailed growing program, Jeff Hoogeveen acknowledged lady luck for the higher than normal crop yields.
“This was the right year, yes,” he said. “We walked in with moist soil. That doesn’t always happen here. I knew this was the year to do it. If you’re going to go chase a big crop, this was an easy year to say we’re going to do it.”
