Alberta fighting rain
Camrose bureau
Showers across Alberta have been more of a hindrance than help at this late date. The rain has delayed haying and silage making around Airdrie.
The wet weather in southern Alberta has also increased the amount of leaf disease in crops. Sclerotinia is noticeable in lodged canola. Wheat and barley have lots of foliar disease. Heat is needed to ripen crops and create good harvest conditions. Harvest has begun on fall crops in the Oyen area.
In the northeast, frost is a concern. Another three weeks without frost are needed. Around Bonnyville, wheat fields are still showing up with the tops of the heads blasted away. Around Sedgewick, many wheat fields have the top spikelets prematurely whitened due to the cold temperature at flowering. AC Barrie seems to have been the hardest hit. Around Lamont, all crops are late. Pastures are in poor condition and many herds are being sold.
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
Around Vermilion, wet weather has caused problems for pulse crops. There is an outbreak of powdery mildew in some fields. The lower canopy of crops is wet and lodged and long-vined field peas are starting to rot at the base. Lentils are in trouble around Vermilion because of wet, humid weather.
In the northwest the drought continues. Sclerotinia is serious in canola around Stony Plain.
In the Peace River area, swathing of canola has begun. Combining of fescue continued with yields of 100-300 pounds per acre. Some meadow brome was yielding 300-800 lb. per acre. Poorer wheat and pea crops are being cut for greenfeed or silage. Lygus bugs started to become prevalent around Grande Prairie and Manning. There is little spraying because of poor canola prices.
In the south, wet weather is delaying the pea and barley harvest around Brooks. Rain and wind have caused lodging. Around Lethbridge and Taber, five to 50 percent of canola pods are affected by seedpod cabbage weevils, which will affect yield. Around Medicine Hat, winter wheat and fall rye are being combined and yield reports are good.
Sask. needs warmth
Saskatoon newsroom
Producers across most of Saskatchewan are hoping for more warm, dry days to speed the late crops along to harvest. Almost no combining has been completed and little swathing has occurred. More time is needed for most crops to reach maturity.
Ironically, farmers in the southeast now hope for rain. They need moisture to fill their late-seeded crops. In the spring they had the opposite problem. Their land was flooded and they didn’t know if they would get a crop in. Some land was left unseeded because of the extreme moisture. But now the topsoil in some areas has dried out, and drought stress is the new worry.
Drought continues in the extreme northwest, around Meadow Lake, Goodsoil and Pierceland.
Producers in most other areas need it to stay dry. Heavy rains in many areas two weeks ago have slowed maturity.
Across the province only about one percent of the crop is combined, with six percent swathed. Less than half of the winter crops are in the bin.
“Dribs and drabs are coming in, but not a lot,” said Saskatchewan Agriculture crop watcher Terry Karwandy.
Of the small amount of wheat that has come in, quality looks excellent.
Wind damage continues to be common, with lodging reported everywhere. Grasshoppers continue to be a problem in many areas.
Flea beetles have re-emerged in the northwest, and ducks and geese are beginning to prey on ripening crops.
Some southern farmers have been beset by unusual pests: tornadoes and prairie fires.
Rain interrupts in Man.
Brandon bureau
Harvest was interrupted last week by rain and hail storms in parts of Manitoba.
In the southwest, hail was reported in the Carberry, Souris, Boissevain and Killarney districts. Parts of the region had thundershowers that dumped up to 30 millimetres of rain.
Combining of fall rye was well advanced. Harvesting of early-seeded wheat, barley, canola and peas was under way, but less than five percent of those crops had been combined.
Leaf rust, barley yellow dwarf and root rot are common in many cereals. Some fields are severely affected.
The northwest region also had scattered thundershowers last week. Harvesting was just getting started, with less than five percent of wheat swathed. Some early-seeded canola was also swathed.
Diseases are reported in all crops. Sclerotinia is starting to show in maturing canola fields. Damage does not appear extreme in most of those fields.
The central region enjoyed mainly hot, dry weather last week. But isolated thundershowers and moderate hail damage passed through the Starbuck, Morris, Altona and Portage districts. A storm Aug. 17 left extensive hail damage in the Fannystelle/Sanford area.
Harvest of winter wheat and fall rye is nearly complete. Good yields and quality are reported.
Harvest of spring cereals is in full swing. Spring wheat and barley in the eastern districts was up to 60 percent combined compared to 10 to 15 percent on the west side of the region. Early-seeded spring cereals were yielding average to above average.
Late-seeded cereals have been hit by barley yellow dwarf. Early-seeded canolas were being swathed with some combining reported. The harvest of field beans should begin within the next two weeks.
In the eastern region, swathing of wheat and barley was nearly complete with about 70 percent combined. Wheat was yielding 45-55 bu./acre. Much of it was grading No. 2 due to bleaching caused by rains.
Barley was also about 70 percent combined with yields reaching 90 bu./acre. Oat crops were 40-65 percent combined.
