Winnipeg Oct. 23 (MarketsFarm) – Manitoba farmers made minimal harvest progress during the week ended Oct. 22, as fields across the province continued to dry out after being hit by a winter storm the previous week.
The total harvest was pegged at 77 per cent complete province-wide, which was up by only three points from the previous week and well off the 87 per cent average for the third week of October.
Canola increased to 82 per cent harvested, from 80 per cent the previous week. Spring wheat is 95 per cent harvested, which is only slightly behind the 98 per cent three-year average. The soybean and dry bean harvests are both running well behind normal, at 41 per cent and 56 per cent complete respectively. That compares with the three-year averages of 77 per cent and 92 per cent for the two crops. Grain corn is only five per cent harvested, which compares with the 21 per cent average. The corn silage harvest is roughly 50 per cent complete, well off the 85 per cent average.
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Harvest operations are farthest behind in the southwest region of Manitoba, where only 55 per cent of the canola crop is off the fields and 85 per cent of the spring wheat.
Snowmelt resulted in ditches and waterways full of melt water, causing overland flooding in parts of the Central and Eastern regions, according to the report. While harvest operations were facing delays, soybean and corn crops were reportedly standing better than expected from the heavy snowfall, with the exception of the Westlake and Western Interlake areas.
