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The month of July has brought cool, wet weather and smoke from forest fires to the majority of the Prairies.
Rain has been reported in some of the drier areas, but its coming too late for drought stressed crops and forage, with RM's across Manitoba, and Saskatchewan and Alberta County's now declaring agricultural disaster areas.
Taking a regional look at what's happening:
Manitoba
Oilseed specialist Sonia Wilson puts together Manitoba's weekly crop report and says the drier areas of the province are in the Interlake region with RM's now starting to declare Agriculture Emergencies including the RM of St. Laurent and the RM of Fisher.
She notes when you look at other areas of the province, crop development is moving along with winter wheat and fall rye in the grain fill stage, while spring wheat quality varies by region.
"We're sitting in the southwest at about 85 pe rcent good and 15 per cent fair, in the Northwest we have 35 per cent excellent, 50 per cent good, and 15 per cent fair, the Central region is 20 per cent excellent, 50 per cent good, 20 per cent fair and 10 per cent poor. The Eastern area is 40 per cent excellent, 50 per cent good, 10 per cent fair, the Interlake has 20 per cent excellent, 70 per cent good and 10 per cent fair."
Canola growth stages vary with the long seeding window, flax is in late stage flowering, with earliest seeded fields with bolls. Sunflowers are reaching R1 to R3 staging. Field peas are flowering in most areas, with pods in the most advanced fields continuing to develop. and early seeded soybeans are in the R1 to R3 stage, with later seeded soybeans at V5.
To view Manitoba's Weekly Crop Report click here.
Saskatchewan
A good portion of the province received rain over the weekend.
In some areas, the rain came just in time to carry crops through flowering and grain fill, while in other areas the rain came too late to make a difference to crops or pastures.
A number of RMs in Saskatchewan have now declared agriculture disasters, mainly in the southwest corner of the province.
Crop development varies from region to region, with drier areas showing the most accelerated crop development.
Producers report their crops are still showing damage and stress from the numerous weeks of heat and overly dry conditions this growing season. Gophers and grasshoppers are causing minor to moderate damage to crops this week with some areas seeing higher damage depending on pest populations.
The rain and strong winds have led to cereal crops lodging across many regions, with producers hopeful the damage is minor and crops can recover in time for harvest.
To view Saskatchewan's Weekly Crop Report click here.
Alberta
Alberta's latest crop report as of July 15 shows most areas in the Central Region of the province received timely and abundant moisture with some hitting the southern region as well. However, the North East, North West, and Peace regions have reported dryness and heat stress in many areas.
Agriculture disasters have been declared in Greenview County, Pincher and Cypress County.
Stats show the percentage of all crops rated in good to excellent condition provincially has increased to 66 per cent, up from 61 per cent two weeks ago. Regional crop conditions have improved in most areas, except for the South, where conditions remain unchanged. Among regions, the Peace is the only one below its respective 5- and 10-year averages. Provincial crop development is ahead of average, with spring cereals nearing full flowering, 74 per cent of broadleaf crops are in the flowering stage, and 20 per cent have begun podding.
Spring cereals are most advanced in the Peace Region, where they have reached the early milk development stage. That's followed by the South Region where crops are mostly at the late flowering stage. In the other areas, spring cereals are between early heading and mid-flowering.
Reports of gopher activity above threshold (gopher hills present in fields) are reported in five per cent of fields in the South and Central regions, and 10 per cent in the North West. The North West is the only region with pest activity above the 5-year average.
To view Alberta's Weekly Crop Report click here. Alberta is set to release its next weekly crop report on Friday.