Low yields on early seeded fields | Some fields were exposed to pests and disease while later crops suffered heat stress
Early reports suggest canola yields could be below average in Manitoba this year.
In its weekly crop report, Manitoba Agriculture noted that early canola yields were 20 to 35 bushels per acre, but reports from a grain terminal northwest of Winnipeg indicated that many growers were seeing yields closer to 20 bu. per acre.
However, Anastasia Kubinec, an oilseed specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, said yields from the earliest seeded crops may not reflect the bigger picture in the province.
“Some of those early planted fields that they’re getting yields off now, they were exposed to heavy flea beetle pressure, root rot, potential wind damage and went through that cold spell (early in the spring),” Kubinec said.
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“The (plants) may have used some of their energy to get through that (stress).”
Only a fraction of Manitoba growers had combined their canola by the second weekend in August.
Most growers were planning to begin harvest in the middle of the month or later, and many producers still don’t know if a record setting heat wave in July severely cut into their yield.
Environment Canada said last month was one of the hottest Julys on record in eastern Manitoba. The average daytime high in Winnipeg was 29.3 C for the month.
Clayton Harder, who farms west of Winnipeg, isn’t sure if he has average, good or below average canola.
“It looks pretty good. There’s definitely some very heavy spots,” he said in the second week of August.
“But to be honest, I don’t remember such an intense heat blast during the flowering period.”
Harder is holding out hope for his canola because he seeded in late April, so the bulk of blooming occurred before the scalding weather.
“I’m optimistic there will be a decent crop.”
Kubinec said it’s too early to make general statements about canola yields in Manitoba and expects yields will be highly variable.
Much will depend on whether growers received a timely rain during the heat wave and the condition of the crop in late June.
“I have seen fields … it looks like a really, really good crop. Potentially over 45 bu. per acre. Then I’ve also walked into fields where if the guy gets 25 (bu.) he’s going to be lucky,” she said.
“If you had a really good crop going into that hot spell, it seemed to withstand it a lot better than the thinner crops.”
She said it’s possible later seeded crops withstood the heat, as long as the crop canopy was robust.
