Crops north of Brandon, in pothole country, have been a bit like a punching bag for rainstorms this year.
They’ve been flattened several times, only to get back up again. Lately, some have gone down for the count, but others look strong, said area farmer Don Bromley.
However, continual rains have kept the crop canopy wet.
Hot weather last week added to Manitoba farmers’ worries about disease. Bromley has been checking disease risk maps on Manitoba Agriculture’s website.
He sprayed some Tilt fungicide on cereals this spring, taking advantage of a promotional offer from Novartis, but he hasn’t made up his mind about applying Folicur for fusarium head blight, or insecticide for wheat midge.
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“Where’s the payback?” said Bromley. “As far as just going in and doing everything, that’s not in the budget.”
Applying chemicals to fields has been a season-long struggle this year in southeastern Manitoba, said Manitoba Agriculture crops manager Daryl Domitruk.
Wet soils made it difficult to spray for weeds in June. The risk of sclerotinia for canola is high, but the cost-benefit of spraying fungicides is hard to work out.
“You couple the poor crop with the poor price outlook for canola, and you see farmers haven’t sprayed for sclerotinia,” said Domitruk.
For many parts of the province, it’s too late to apply fungicides on cereals to prevent fusarium head blight, said Andy Tekhauz, leaf disease pathologist at Agriculture Canada’s Cereal Research Centre.
He scouted fields this week for fusarium and expected to find levels similar to 1996, 1997 and 1998.
“I would expect that we’re going to see a moderate to severe level of fusarium this year,” said Tekhauz.
Yield losses in wheat and barley will likely be in the range of five to seven percent. From 1996 to 1998, the disease cost Manitoba farmers about $40 million per year in losses. But with lower cereal prices this crop year, Tekhauz said damages will be slightly lower.
