Local harvest about half complete
The harvest around Lethbridge and southern Alberta is progressing at a good pace, says Mark Cutts, a crop specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.
“I think harvest is moving along quite well,” Cutts states. “I would think by now it is somewhere between 40 and 50 per cent completed, and I would think that would put it close to the five-year average, or maybe a just a little bit behind. If the weather holds, I would think they would be done by the end of September — if producers can keep plugging away.”
Cutts says on irrigated lands the yield should be pretty close to fiveyear average, but confirms on dryland crops two years of drought have taken their toll.
“The last yield estimate I have is the dryland yields are about 25 per cent below the five-year average,” he says. “It has been a warm and dry summer and the plants’ response to that is to typically produce less yield in response to those dry conditions.”
Frost could be the next concern for some late-seeded crops, says Cutts, but he does not expect it to hurt most producers in the region overly much.
“I think we are at that stage where the impact of a frost would be minimal,” says Cutts. “If there is some late-seeded crops, potentially there could be an impact. But given the warm, dry summer, the crops have pushed along to maturity so a frost at this time would have minimal to no impact at all.”
Any field peas grown in the region should be close to being harvested by now, says Cutts. Next, farmers will begin working on their barley, wheat, oats and other cereals before finishing off in their canola fields.
“I think they will get those acres cleaned up in pretty good time,” states Cutts.
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