聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Thanks to a several weeks of near-ideal weather, harvest had been progressing rapidly until a fairly general rain ranging from about half-an-inch to an inch-and-a-half passed through the Canora, Norquay, Kamsack, and Preeceville region early last week, said Mat Dennison of Prairie Soils on Thursday.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Most farmers were able to start combining their crops at about the same time as usual or even a little earlier than normal, in mid to late August.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Most yields have ranged from just below to just above average. For the most part, the Norquay area received more rain during the growing season, allowing the crops in the area to produce average to above average yields. The remainder of the region generally saw lower than average rainfall, resulting in crops with average to slightly below average yields.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Denison said there are a few small pockets around the region with crops that yielded well above average, thanks to timely rains during the growing season.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Due to the recent dry conditions, some canola has been harvested with as little as six per cent moisture content. Denison said the target moisture content for harvest is around 10 per cent in canola for safe storage. The recent rain should be helpful in that respect for any canola still to be harvested. An added benefit is that the extra moisture will increase yields somewhat.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 For the most part, farmers across the region are happy with the crop yields so far. A wet fall in 2016 and good soil moisture conditions in the spring helped the crops get off to a good start, and probably prevented yields from dipping lower during the generally dry summer.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In some areas, yields were adversely affected by some familiar bugs such as cutworms and flea beetles. The diamondback moth, a relatively new enemy, showed up in a significant number of canola crops, especially in the Kamsack area. One benefit of the lack of rain during the growing season was that it was, for the most part, too dry for any significant disease problems.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 On average, Denison estimated the harvest is about 70 per cent complete across the region. The majority of the crop still in the field is canola. Two more weeks of sunny, dry harvest weather should be all that鈥檚 needed by most farmers to finish up.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The recent rain will be helpful where harvest is complete and farmers are looking to get a jump on fall work. Denison said until the recent rain, the ground was so dry that it was difficult just to get the cultivator shovels into the ground to apply anhydrous ammonia fertilizer.
