Summary of crop conditions, week of July 28 to August 1.
Saskatchewan
North
Crops need rain, but conditions are better than in southern areas. Yield potentials are slipping as hot, windy days dry filling crops. Cereals have uneven development. Peas will start being cut this week.Weather is burning northeastern crops, although conditions are not critical. Wheat is headed and filling, close to turning. Canola is filling. Peas are being desiccated.
Central
West-central crops are burning under the heat. All crops are losing yield potential. Later-seeded crops are suffering most. Some lentils and peas are being swathed. Canola, barley, peas and lentils should all be swathed this week. Bertha army worms are a problem in some areas. East-central areas plagued by heat. Crops are below average. Barley is turning white in many fields. Many late-seeded barley crops being cut for greenfeed.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
South
Southeast crops are taking a beating from the relentless heat. Wheat and rye are thin. Early-seeded canola is holding on, but late-seeded is poor. Some peas and lentils have been desiccated. Mustard and some fall rye is being swathed. This week should see much field activity as harvest begins. Heat has advanced harvest. Preharvest Roundup treatments proceeding. Crop development is variable because of staggered seeding and bad growing conditions. Bertha army worm moth numbers are high in some areas. The southwest is faring much better, although a good rain is needed. Mustard and some Polish canola being swathed. Wheat crops are headed and filling. Crops look good but need moisture.
Alberta
Peace
Warm, sunny weather is required so crops can use available moisture. Mosquitoes are still a problem for livestock producers because the wet conditions extend the insect’s life cycle. First cut haying has been completed. Forage seed harvest will begin shortly. Many producers are swathing fescue. Yields are likely to be lower than first anticipated. Alsike clover is coming along nicely. Earlier seed crops remain in fairly good condition despite excess rain. Later seeded crops show moisture stress.
North/Central
Areas of eastern Alberta are showing signs of crop stress due to lack of moisture. Barley crops are deteriorating with heat and lack of moisture. Reports of hail at Lacombe. Almost all cereal crops have headed and canola has bloomed. Yield losses are expected as flower blast is prevalent in both canola and peas and cereal crop leaves are curling. Crops suffering from moisture stress earlier are doing much better but remain spindly and yellow. A strip running from Provost south to Medicine Hat is infested with diamond back moths. Bertha army worm numbers down in the traps in the eastern half of province.
South
Crops are desperate for moisture. A good rain may be too late for some. Many producers are salvaging their crop by taking it off as greenfeed or silage. Most of the irrigation is wrapping up for the season with good yield. Fall and winter wheat crops have been swathed in some districts. Lygus bugs continue to be a problem in canola fields around Vulcan. Some hail damage at Clareshom, Airdrie and Beiseker.
Manitoba
Northwest/Interlake
Dry hot conditions dominate, though patchy rain has caused moisture problems. Hail wiped out some crops in a six-kilometre strip north of Dauphin. Some earlier-seeded crop is turning, with about 10 percent of barley cut. Small amounts of sclerotinia have been found, as well as fusarium in wetter regions. A second hay cut has started in some areas. Cereal crops are developing well but some fields show signs of stress from heat especially near the Saskatchewan border. Rye may be ready for harvest next week.
West
Dry conditions are causing heat stress throughout most of the region, although crops near Boissevain are progressing well. Cereals are showing more damage than oilseeds. Hay crops are yielding half as much as last year due to a cold spring. Some farmers will begin cutting canola this week. Fusarium damage is worse in some southern areas compared to last year.
Red River Valley
Poor, uneven germination due to a lack of moisture during seeding followed by hot, humid conditions are producing stressed crops in most areas. Rye crops west of Gladstone have low yields and there is some spraying for grasshoppers in that area. Farmers near Morden are spraying for sclerotinia, and fusarium is thinning out wheat crops in some areas. High humidity is slowing drying in hay crops.
Source: Provincial agriculture departments, Alberta Wheat Pool, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool
