2024 Growing Season in Review: Challenges, Strategies, and Resources

The 2024 growing season has been everything but uneventful. Unlike 2023, we saw more rain events in the spring of 2024, they were welcomed to replenish soil moisture. However, the in-season precipitation was generally scattered, with some regions receiving more rain than the neighbouring areas. For the areas that received spring rain, cool wet conditions inevitably delayed planting, leading to a slower start of the season.

A few related resources on this topic:

• Delayed Seeding: What works best for a shorter growing season?
• Managing Extremes of Moisture series – Manitoba Crop Alliance
• The Impact of Spring Rainfall on Available Soil Moisture – University of Nebraska - Lincoln

In June, the wet conditions persisted for some, raising concerns about fungal diseases such as powdery mildew, cereal leaf spots, stripe rust and Fusarium head blight. In early to mid-July, stripe rust was reported from south to central Alberta. Forecasts by PCDMN had been tracking the wind trajectories coming from the cereal growing regions in the US, the potential sources of rust spores. Several fields were heavily infected with rust, raising concerns across the regions along the Puccinia pathway.

In the latter half of July, many regions of the province experienced a heatwave, with day temperatures above 30°C and minimum rain. The heatwave provided some release to the concerns about diseases. At the same time, extended heat and drought stress caused yield reduction and/or lighter kernel weights in the most affected areas.

Heading into 2024, many were concerned about grasshopper population. Grasshopper pressure was expected to be high for two reasons:

1) large grasshopper populations in 2023, and;

2) a warm, open fall that provided ample time for grasshoppers to lay eggs and for the embryos to develop. On the fortunate side, the cool wet spring slowed grasshopper hatching and reduced their survival rate. It helped avoiding the worst-case scenario.