A farmer in the Randolph area guesses he is about ten to fourteen days away from the start of harvest.
Jason Rempel of Rempelco Acres says this year they are growing their usual mix of wheat, barley, canola, corn, and soybeans. He notes though most of their acres are in the Randolph area, they are also growing crops near Zhoda and Pansy.
According to Rempel, his wheat and barley are getting close to maturity.
"Some areas of the fields are looking very ripe and those would be ready to harvest very, very soon," says Rempel. "We're going to look at starting the wheat and barley harvest probably in the next 10 to 14 days, depending on weather."
As for their canola, Rempel says the smoky conditions probably gave producers a few extra days of bloom on the flowers. However, he notes that the lack of moisture means that some of the blooms did not set into pods. As a result, they are not seeing quite as much in the field as they would like to see for this time of year.
"So, I'd say our canola is probably on track for maybe an average or slightly below average," he guesses.
However, Rempel says it also depends on geographic location. He says they have fields that are about five miles apart that were seeded within 24 hours of each other. And yet, here we are in early August, and one field is about two weeks further along than the other.
"Whenever we got those timely rains, it really impacted the germination," he explains.
Rempel says their longer-season crops look quite good. He notes though the soybeans and corn could definitely use some water to help finish them off, it seems they have weathered the conditions this summer better than some of the other crops.
Environment Canada is calling for rain Tuesday evening, and Rempel says the precipitation would be greatly welcomed. He notes it is too late to help any of the cereals like wheat, oats, and barley, but says canola, soybeans, and corn would all benefit from some moisture.
"The canola, even though it's done blooming, it's still in the pod fill stage, and so moisture would be excellent there," he says. "The soybeans, the corn, some rain would be really nice. If we had 10 to 15, even 25 millimetres or more, it would be most welcome."
According to Rempel, his fields have been spared from any of the hail that has fallen in the southeast this summer. And his crops have avoided any insect or disease pressures. As far as disease goes, Rempel says that because of the lower humidity during most of the growing season, there have been very few incidents of disease pressure from fungal infections. And as for insects, Rempel says he has seen a few aphids on some soybean fields, but nothing to get concerned over.
"I'm also seeing a lot of beneficial insects out there as well," he says. "So, we'll just let things go as they are."
Meanwhile, as we get closer to the start of harvest, Rempel says he would still welcome 25 millimetres of rain both this week and next week. After that, he says he would love to see sunshine for about 10 days, allowing them to harvest their cereals. Rempel says though he has not seen or heard of anyone harvesting yet in the southeast, he knows there are some producers further west that have started, and he knows of some fields north of the Trans Canada Highway that should be very, very close.
Rempel says overall it has been an interesting year for producers. He notes those who benefited from some timely rains should see some very nice yields this year. Overall, he expects it to be an average harvest, with some crops definitely carrying more of the load.
"Happy to be able to say that we're going to definitely have something to harvest this year," says Rempel. "Which is good."