Western Canada lags behind in harvest
Posted Aug 23, 2011 10:25 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Farmers across Western Canada are lagging five days behind on average when it comes to completing the harvest.
That’s according to Wildrose Agriculture Producers who say heat, length of the day and excess moisture have all played a role in pushing Alberta farmers behind.
President Humphrey Banack tells 660News it all comes down to seeding times and the ones later in the season are the ones suffering.
“The wheats are some of the earlier stuff to go in, but they do take a longer maturity period,” he says. “So any of the wheat that was seeded when we do get to that a little bit later will be substantially late right now.”
Banack says the weather will play a very determinate role as they try to move forward and avoid the frost.
“I heard the other day that we had some frost out by Rocky Mountain House, minus 1 and minus 2,” he says. “Those days are getting closer everyday and frost can have huge detrimental effects to immature crops.”
In some parts of Alberta near Lethbridge, combines are out trying to catch up to areas that may be closer to ten days behind schedule.
For now, he says producers are very optimistic about the end of the season.
According to the long-time farmer, the world market is in a tight time, prices are pushing up and as long as they can get average prices with average crops, things are looking good.
But as with anything, Banack says that could change very quickly.
