Excess Moisture Takes Toll on Quality of Fall Seeded Cereal Crops

The executive director of Winter Cereals Canada reports excess moisture has taken a dramatic toll on the quality of winter cereal crops planted last fall.

Although last fall's late harvest resulted in fewer acres of fall seed cereal crops being planted in western Canada abundant snow cover protected the crops from winter kill but excess moisture during the growing season has caused problems.

Jake Davidson, the executive director of Winter Cereals Canada, reports growers he talked to during a joint board meeting of Saskatchewan and Manitoba winter cereal groups Wednesday indicated they've never seen their crops take so long to start growing.

Jake Davidson-Winter Cereals Canada:
My group, which of course covered everywhere from east Selkirk all the way through to Outlook, Saskatchewan generally figure they're going to get an average yield.

Quality is becoming a bit of a concern.
There seems to be a significant amount of fusarium showing up in one variety in particular and it's a little worrisome.
It's Flourish that's showing a little more fusarium than we expected.
Emerson is the fusarium resistant variety which is basically still in multiplication.

It's showing quite good for fusarium but there is some worry on the Flourish that it's maybe a little more susceptible to fusarium than people expected but there's also some indication that what may be fusarium could also be just the result of the crop having wet feet.
Some of the fellows had sent samples in to the crop diagnostics and they said, no it isn't fusarium you're seeing.

It's just the result of the excess moisture at one point.

Davidson acknowledges quality is very area specific and depends very much on variety.

He says growers on the western side of Saskatchewan who planted Radiant and Moats have been very pleased.

Source: Farmscape