LAKELAND - A warm, dry fall weather is helping producers across the region progress with getting this year’s crops off the field.
“We've been given a good harvest season. The weather seems to have cooperated for the most part,” according to the County of St. Paul’s agricultural fieldman Keith Kornelsen.
Yields are looking to be average or above average, from what Kornelsen has heard from area producers, which is a big improvement over last year. In 2021, municipalities across the Lakeland declared states of agricultural disaster due to drought.
Of course, along with good yields, producers are hoping for good quality on the crops they bring in too. Kornelsen notes that it looks like the rain experienced in June and July was enough to keep crops held over, despite a dryer August and September.
As of last week, Kornelsen said farmers in the area were still combining cereals and canola would be next.
“I feel that they’re right on schedule. There’s not a lot of worry out there,” said Kornelsen, adding, once the canola is done, the percentage of overall crops harvested will increase dramatically.
"I think people are pretty positive out there,” said Kornelsen, adding, compared to the last few years, “we’re in good shape for sure.”
When asked if there have been any specific challenges noted this season as far as pests, Kornelsen says one of the biggest issues he’s seen this year is how widespread Canada thistle is.
After a dry 2021, and dry periods experienced in 2022, it’s not a surprise that the noxious weed has flourished. The dry conditions promote the weeds with deep roots to grow really well, explained Kornelsen.
The County of St. Paul is also always on the lookout for clubroot in canola field. This year, the municipality found five fields with clubroot, which is down from average, which is about 10 fields per season.
Famers are doing a better job picking canola varieties to grow, and the dry weather may have helped too, said Kornelsen, further giving credit to local producers for being more mindful and careful about spreading clubroot.
Wrapping up harvest
On Sunday night, Robert Bouchard and his crew were busy taking off one of the last crops of 2022. Bouchard is a former reeve for the County of St. Paul and a long-time producer in the area.
Having rented his first piece of land at the age of 16 years old, Bouchard has owned his own farm in the Westcove area, north of St. Paul, since 1971. This year, he seeded a total of 2,000 acres consisting of canola and barley. While out combining barley on Sunday evening, Bouchard said he predicted he would likely be done harvest before Tuesday morning.
The weather this fall has been ideal for many farmers in the Lakeland and the yields and quality that are coming in appear promising too.
Of course, the 2022 season has not been without its challenges. The cost of fuel has been "outrageous," says Bouchard. It costs about $2,000 to fill each combine in the morning, "every morning." Then, there are the trucks needed to haul grain that also require fuel.
And while the larger machinery may require a lot of fuel, the efficiencies and improvements the technology bring to the farm are no doubt appreciated. Bouchard says the improvements made in machinery over the last 15 years have been one of the biggest changes he's noticed.
When asked about any other challenges, Bouchard says he did find clubroot in his canola this season, despite his best efforts to avoid it. He says he does not agree with the County of St. Paul's approach to clubroot management, noting that canola is a "big cash crop" and he believes a two-year rotation is sufficient, rather than three.
The County of St. Paul did recently table discussions to change the municipality's policy, while more information was gathered on the two-year and three-year rotation recommendations.
Crop reports
According to the Sept. 13 Alberta Crop Report, the weather has allowed harvest to advance substantially.
“Overall, about 59 per cent of major crops have now been combined, ahead of the five-year and 10-year averages of 36 per cent,” according to the Sept. 13 crop report. On Sept. 20, an updated crop report was released, stating 87 per cent of all crops were swathed or combined.
Producers in the Peace Region and northeast region were making the most progress, early in the month. And while producers in other areas may have seen less progress, compared to five-year averages, “harvest progress is ahead for all regions.”
"Combining across the province on all crops is now 77 per cent complete and well ahead of the 10-year average of 53 per cent," according to the Sept. 20 crop report. The report added, "Specifically this past week, the north east and north west made significant harvest progress with both increasing combine completion on major crops by 21 per cent through the week."
Barley and peas are expected to be lower quality than provincial average in the north east, but wheat and canola are of very high quality, according to the crop report.
About 73 per cent of crops are in the bin, 14 per cent are in swath and 13 per cent remain standing, as of the Sept. 20 report.
Pastures a challenge
One challenge that some cattle and livestock producers may be experiencing is lower quality when it comes to pastures.
Kornelsen noted that some farmers are bringing cattle in early because of a lack of moisture and lots of thistle growing, and not as much grass.
“If someone was going to worry about something, it would be that,” said Kornelsen, speaking to the quality of pastures.
When farmers were baling this summer, there were good yields, which is promising, but the question still remains if producers will have enough feed to carry through the winter.
“Currently, pasture and hay growth is generally slow, and in the case of pasture is being grazed with no recovery,” according to the Sept. 13 crop report. “In some areas, livestock are moving onto harvested fields. Provincial pasture growing condition are now rated as 29 per cent poor, 51 per cent fair, and 20 per cent good, with similar ratings for tame hay.”
