A farmer from the Rural Municipality of Hanover says this week's rain is going to make for a very challenging harvest.
Lyle Peters is with Henervic Farms. He says about half of their land is located in the area around Randolph and Mitchell, with the other half down south near Pansy and St. Malo. According to Peters, their land near Randolph received more than seven inches of rain this week, while their fields down south had between 2.5 and four inches of rain.
"It's funny that it feels really good to say we only had 2.5 inches in some areas," says Peters.
Peters says harvest is about 25 per cent complete for their farm. He notes they have combined all of their wheat, which ended up being a very good crop. He adds their early canola is in the bin, though not a great crop.
"Our early canola wasn't very good," he says. "It struggled in spring for a number of reasons, many of which were a very wet and cool end of May, beginning of June, and those yields were below average."
Peters says their late canola is still on the field, as are their soybeans, sunflowers, and corn. However, he notes they are very fortunate that none of their fields are in swath right now. Peters says other farmers have crops that are currently floating away.
Needless to say, Peters says they have crops today that are standing in water. But he points out that as of right now, their crops should be able to handle this excess moisture. He notes the canola was mature and will be largely unaffected, aside from the challenge of getting it off the field. Peters says there is some concern for mould in their soybeans, while the corn should be just fine.
"The corn, I don't think we're very worried," he says. "The corn is also starting to get to a maturity where it's sort of just trying to mature the cob, not really grow, and so I don't think that it will drown the corn."
According to Peters, his farm purchased tracks on Tuesday for their combines, though that will make harvest very challenging. He notes the heavy machinery will leave tracks on the field, plus they will muck up the roads with semis needing to park on the road instead of the field.
"That is something that's a challenge for us as well as the neighbours, when we damage the road," he says. "We try our best not to, but harvest will be very challenging now," he adds.
Peters asks motorists and residents to be mindful of the extra trucks on roadways this fall and requests patience.
"I'm disappointed now that we'll have to make a mess and that the next few weeks are going to be a real challenge to be efficient and to not make a big mess on the fields and on the roads and everything else as we try to get this done here," he adds.
According to Peters, with three days of sunshine, their canola would probably be ready for the combine. However, the forecast does not look promising for that, plus Peters says he is not certain that they will be able to drive onto any of their fields in three days from now.
Meanwhile, Peters reminds the public that seven inches of rain in mid-September is entirely different from seven inches of rain in July. He notes at this point in the season, crops are no longer sucking up a lot of water because they are mostly mature. Further to that, he notes the days are much shorter and there is less heat at this time of year, which also slows down the process of drying the land.
