 (1).jpg)
Harvest has all but concluded throughout the prairie provinces, according to crop reports released by the Government of Saskatchewan, the Government of Manitoba, and the Government of Alberta’s agriculture ministries.
Starting east in Manitoba, harvest progress as of October 22nd sits at 95 percent complete across the province. Corn and sunflower harvest will continue for the next few weeks. Currently, corn is at 55 percent complete, and sunflowers are at 39 percent complete provincially. Fall fertilizer application has been widespread, and the majority of fall field work has been completed. Producers are becoming more aware of the need to scout their fields and identify weeds which escaped their control or looked unusual. This is a normal part of integrated weed management but is becoming more important due to the introduction of waterhemp and palmer amaranth to the province.
In Saskatchewan, limited rainfall allowed many producers to wrap up harvest this past week. Harvest progress increased two percent and currently sits at 99 percent complete. Producers in the southeast, southwest and west-central regions have finished harvest. Nearly all producers in the northeast region have completed harvest as progress sits at 99 per cent. Finally, harvest is close to wrapping up in the east-central and northwest regions at 98 per cent complete. With harvest near completion in much of Saskatchewan, only a few types of crops remain in the field including oats, canola, flax and soybeans. Harvest progress for oats is at 99 percent complete and the remainder of these crops should be off in the next week. For oilseed crops, both canola and flax harvest progress is 98 percent complete. Soybeans remain the furthest behind at 90 percent complete, but the remaining 10 percent is ready to be combined. Harvest for all winter cereals, triticale, field peas, lentils, durum, mustard, chickpeas, spring wheat, barley and canary seed crops is complete.
Finally, out west in Alberta, harvest progressed another 5 percent over the last week and is now 96 percent complete. This is ahead of the 5-year average of 90 percent. A week of dry weather in most areas around the province helped producers get in the field, even with cool temperatures that decreased combining hours during the day due to extended dew or frost. Barley, dry peas, and spring wheat harvest are virtually complete, but canola and oats are only 92 and 93 per cent combined, respectively.
Provinces will now look to recap their growing year, with more information coming available towards the end of October. However, another interesting growing year in agriculture is completed. Golden West’s Adi Loewen talked with Manitoba’s provincial pulse specialist Dennis Lange, recapping the 2024 growing year.
“There was some delay in field operations on many farms with the storm on May 24th bringing all that rain to the Winkler area." Loewen said. “Well, sometimes that's part of farming. You know, you get those, those delays in spring, but in the end, things move along. Once things dried up a little bit, growers started to get into fields.” Lange recaps the wet spring. “(Crops) generally struggled with some continuing to struggle under the wet conditions into July, but August brought some drier weather and more normal temperatures, allowing those crops to grow rapidly and moving to the reproductive stages.”
Now the focus shifts to next year's crop, as this fall has been nice weather wise to help complete fall work such as spraying, harrowing, fertilizing, and discing. More information regarding yields will be available as producers take a detailed inventory. Lange is thankful however, that this interesting year has had some bright spots.
“I think it's just been a very interesting year and we're using some good things happen all season. I think growers are just happy that we're having a nice open fall to be able to finish off the field work and get some of their fields prepped for next spring.”