Here's why $3 billion in Prairie crops sits unharvested
Weather Presenter
Friday, October 19, 2018, 7:19 PM - A hot, dry summer season and cool, wet start to fall have created challenges for farmers on the Prairies, where an estimated $3 billion in unharvested crops are still sitting out in the fields.
Farm groups in Alberta say the harsh return of winter-like weather at the end of summer and beginning of fall have halted the harvest to the point that some regions have over 50 per cent of their crop still out in the fields.
"The biggest concerns are trying to get the crop off. In order to do that it needs to dry out to get the combines back on the fields," says Trevor Hadwen, an Agroclimate Specialist for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Aside from access issues, crops have also been knocked down due to the heavy snow, causing lodging and making it harder for the farmers to harvest.
"Producers are expecting quality to be reduced due to staining and bleaching as well as yield to be lost," Hadwen says.
At least two Alberta counties, Lac Ste. Anne and Stettler, have declared a state of agricultural emergency. Although Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan are suffering the most, Manitoba producers are also facing problems, not just with quality but with quantity.
Anastasia Kubinec, Manitoba Agriculture's manager of crop industry development, adds artificial drying may be needed.
"That is the big problem right now with a lot of producers, is anything they are taking off is no longer dry, we call it damp or wet," she told The Weather Network.
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MULTI-YEAR PROBLEMS
Prairie crop problems have become a year-on-year issue. For northern regions of Alberta, this could be the third year in a row that large portions of the crop have not actually been harvested during the fall.
Unfortunately, many in Western Canada suffered from drought conditions this past summer, which has had a negative impact not only on the growing season in terms of crops, but also pasture, which livestock producers depend on through the warmer months to feed their herds. With extreme heat and little rain, the pasture source was minimal this year, so producers are forced to utilize their winter hay source earlier than expected.
"Pastures went into the season grazed-down with very little recovery last fall. This resulted in poor pasture conditions right off the start," says Hadwen. "Many producers had exhausted their feed supplies due to the drought and poor forage production last summer making feed more difficult to find this year."
He adds that many producers are starting to look at reducing their cattle herds due to the lack of affordable feed.
Now, as temperatures have soared across Western Canada, breaking heat records for mid-October, some would assume this is the weather farmers on the Prairies have been waiting for -- and it is. But the increased temperatures have some unwanted effects as well.
The warmup for the areas that saw significant snow will lead to snow melt, making a mess in the fields that is difficult for farmers to work in. For some regions, this warmup could be a last chance for producers to get their crop off before winter. With the crop coming off after a wet few weeks dryers are running non-stop, adding costs to production.
If anything, the warm weather will hopefully benefit crops like winter wheat, though producers will have to wait until spring to know for sure. But one thing they are counting on is a good amount of soil moisture to head into the spring season, courtesy of all the snow and rain to kick off fall 2018.
