Ag News

With farmers busy with the harvest there's been a slow start to grain movement in the new crop year.

The assistant vice president of grain for CN Rail David Przednowek says that's not really a surprise, adding that they've seen demand starting to pick up for grain shipment week four which marks the first pop in demand.

The west-central region has made fantastic progress this week with harvest. The region is now 27 per cent complete harvest, ahead of the five-year average of 15 per cent.

Saskatchewan's weekly crop report shows 21 per cent of the provincial crop is in the bin, that's ahead of the five-year average of 14 per cent. 

Farmers in the southwest lead the harvest with 38 per cent of the crop in, the west-central area is at 27 per cent complete, 20 per cent is done in the southeast, 12 per cent in the east-central area, the northeast is at eight per cent while the northwest is at four percent complete.

Dry conditions have been a concern throughout the growing season in many areas of the prairies and that concern continues through the harvest.

Each year during the harvest we hear about combine fires.

Mike Kwasnica is President of the Saskatchewan Association of Fire Chiefs.

He says they worry about the standing crop, especially cereals like wheat as it dries and is ready for harvest, it can pose a big fire risk. 

Prairie farmers are seeing some late-season flea beetles.

The Canola Council of Canada says while it may look alarming flea beetle feeding on canola in late summer is rarely an economic concern.

This week's Canola Watch notes that once the canola plant has moved past the 5.2 growth stage, it becomes resistant to injury from flea beetles.

The newsletter also reminds producers about the importance of scouting before harvest.

Farmers are moving through the crops as they bring in this year's harvest.

Harvest can be a stressful time as farmers spend many long hours in the combine and trucks trying to get the crop in before a change in the weather.

Taking a break and getting out of the driver's seat, even walking around and checking the combine is key for your own mental health and the efficiency of the machine. 

Making sure the combine is clear of debris and running efficiently is important to prevent not only fires but also grain loss.

Farmers continue to roll right through the harvest despite minor rain delays.

The winter cereal harvest is nearing completion in the province with 93 per cent of the winter wheat and fall rye now in the bin.

Provincial pulse specialist Dennis Lange puts together Manitoba's Weekly Crop Report.

He says with the winter cereals wrapping up farmers have moved into the spring cereals.

Now that harvest operations are underway farmers are starting to see the impact of insect damage.

Dr. Meghan Vankosky is a research scientist in agricultural entomology with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

She says she's hearing a lot about wheat stem sawfly activity.

With harvest operations getting underway, farmers are being reminded about the free disease testing being offered through SaskCanola and the Ministry of Agriculture. 

SaskCanola's Agronomy Extension Specialist Kaeley Kindrachuk says as well as testing for blackleg and clubroot this year they are also testing for verticillium stripe.

The drought and producer challenges with trying to find feed are leading some producers to reduce their herds.

The latest cattle marketing report shows in Saskatchewan more cattle are coming to town.

The number of feeder cattle moving through the auction mart more than doubled last week to 7,607 head up from 2,917 the previous week, and up from last year's weekly total of 4,794 head.