Alberta crops looking better than last year

The stage of development for spring cereal crops is near the 10-year average despite concerns of growth delays due to the cool and wet weather.

Alberta Agriculture rated spring wheat as 79 per cent good to excellent, above the 45 per cent good to excellent rating given last year. Durum is also 79 per cent good to excellent condition.

Crops Specialist Harry Brooks said the best crops are the cereals while canola has been suffering.

“I’ve noticed that there are places where some of the canola has got bare patches in it because of the slow start. There were some flea beetle problems, and some didn’t notice it till it was too late,” Brook said. “In fact, there was even a little bit of reseeding to cereals to replace canola because their crops were totally obliterated. It’s not general, but certainly if you see a crappy looking canola field – a good chance it’s had insect problems earlier on.”

Brooks said he had been in the Castor area and crops are looking good with reports of eight inches of rain so far this year.

“It’s phenomenal. It means the grass is growing and there’s actually hay to cut,” he said. “Speaking of hay, everybody and his dog is out there cutting right now and baling so they should get it off in pretty good condition. And we’ve actually got a crop to harvest, which sure beats the heck out of last year.”

With the current heatwave, Brooks said it’s a little too hot for canola.

“Some of the earlier stuff is just approaching full bloom and there is a real potential for some flower blast which will mean some lose a few pods, but it’s not supposed to last that long,” he said. “The beauty of these heat waves here in Alberta, at least it cools down at night and the plants can catch up.”

Brooks said no plant is going to be able to keep up with the water demand and they usually start wilting but then they catch up at nighttime when the sun’s down.

“It might affect you a little bit. I don’t think it’s going to affect any of the cereal yields. But that being said we need a couple more inches just to finish off the crop.”

Brooks said grasshoppers could re-emerge due to the heat.

All crop conditions are still ahead of the historical averages at 75 per cent good to excellent, which is 7 per cent above both the 5 and 10-year average. The Central Region retains the highest per cent of crops rated in good to excellent condition at 82 per cent, with both South and Peace regions reporting a lower 75 per cent, followed by the Northeast at 70 per cent and the Northwest at 68 per cent.