Summary of harvest completion, week of Aug. 26 to Aug. 30
Saskatchewan
North
All northwestern crops are now being swathed. Polish canola is being combined. Some wheat and barley harvested. Crops ripened extremely quickly because of a hot spell. Yields are average, but quality is excellent. Pests have not been a major problem. Crop development is slower in the northeast, but the hot weather has brought the crop up to average development. Swathing will be general this week as long as there is no rain. Yield is average but quality is good.
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Central
West-central crops are a week behind southern and northern crops, but quality looks excellent with average yields. Swathing is taking place with harvesting one week off. Some canola may have green seed problems because of intense heat. Bertha army worms have heavily infested the Saskatoon area. East-central crops are also behind other parts of the province, but hot weather has speeded crops to maturity and towards harvest. Lots of barley and canola has been cut. Wheat is being swathed. Fall rye and winter wheat have been combined. Quality is very good, but yields only average. No major pest problems. Bertha army worm problems have been sporadic.
South
Southwestern crops are being harvested. Combining is well under way. Quality looks excellent, but hot weather reduced yields. Ideal harvest conditions prevail. Greatest worry for producers is dealing with hot grain going in the bin. Cool temperatures wanted by sweating producers so harvest can be completed with less exhaustion. Southeast crops are beginning to be harvested, especially along the international border. Yields are average but quality is excellent. If weather continues dry and warm harvest should proceed.
Manitoba
Northwest/Interlake
Farmers near Swan River need a week of good weather before swathing is general. But southwest of the town swathing is well under way. Harvest is general around Ste. Rose, with 30 percent of wheat off. Quality and yields look good. About half of barley has been combined. In the Interlake, farmers are just starting to harvest. Fusarium looks within tolerance, but ergot may be a problem.
West
Less than five percent of cereals around Minnedosa have been taken off. Around Justice and Neepawa, harvest is well under way. Crops look excellent. Fusarium will not affect grade. Around Brandon, cereals are 75 percent harvested, and samples have good yields. Farmers need two more weeks to finish up. South around Killarney, 30 percent of wheat is harvested and another 40 percent swathed, with yields around 35 bushels per acre. Fusarium shouldn’t downgrade wheat to less that No. 2. Barley and oats harvest is half finished. Swathed canola needs a bit of rain to cure. Oilseeds should be done by the third week of September.
Red River Valley
If good weather keeps up, harvest will be general around Elm Creek next week. Most canola is swathed. South around Altona, farmers have been combining for a week. Cereals are more than half harvested, with wheat yielding 45 bu./acre and barley 70 bu./acre. Fusarium and ergot are problems. Around Winkler, farmers are starting to cut field beans. Peas are about 70 percent cut. Farmers around Lorette are just starting to swath. At Niverville, 15 percent of cereals have been harvested. Most wheat is grading No. 2 because of ergot. Canola harvest will start in a week.
Alberta
Peace
Hot weather has hastened crop development, saving many producers from a terrible year. Crop maturity is variable because of wildly varying amounts of rainfall over the season. Grande Prairie crops are mature and above average in bushels and yield. Lots of preharvest work has been done. Much swathing of most crops except wheat, which is slightly behind but should fall within days. Rain is needed so dry soils can bear fall work. Further east crops are wet from heavy rains. Crops have suffered from cold wet growing conditions and yields do not look good. Along the border wet conditions have produced a better crop, but it is far behind Grande Prairie. Many crop diseases have been reported because of wet summer. Fescue yields appear excellent.
North/Central
Crops are generally good, with western areas much wetter and behind. Most Polish canola has been combined. Yield and quality of Polish is OK but Argentine canola is looking much better. Very little wheat has been swathed, but this week should see much go down. A lot of barley has been cut and combined. One week without frost is still needed to protect developing crops. Light frost was reported last week between Calgary and Olds, and in the Red Deer area. Bertha army worms not as great a problem as expected. Crop diseases are bad this year because of the high moisture levels.
South
Most of the southern harvest is complete and should finish up by Sept. 20. Crop yield is average but quality is excellent. Barley is estimated at 45 to 50 bushels per acre, wheat at 30 bushels per acre. Pests have not been a problem. Rain is needed before fall field work because only 50 millimetres has fallen since seeding.
