Rain delays Manitoba harvest but benefits later season crops

Manitoba Agriculture reports that rain over the past week in the province has delayed harvest, but in many cases, the added moisture was welcome.

Anne Kirk, a cereal crop specialist with Manitoba Agriculture says rain halted the harvest across much of the province but will benefit later season crops.

There was a good start to harvest through many areas of the province but we did have a large system that had significant rains throughout much of the province. The southwest region and parts of the Interlake received significant amounts of rainfall and then we did have rains over some of the northwest, central and eastern regions as well. That rainfall did put a stop to the harvest that had started but we are seeing significant progress on winter cereals and then a start to peas, wheat, barley, and oats as well. In terms of rainfall, we have seen more rainfall in many parts of the province. Some parts of the east or the southeast have actually seen less rainfall than normal but the areas where we have had a pretty good amount of rainfall and not too much are seeing very good crop yields so far and good crop development. This rain over the last weekend would have really benefited later season crops like soybeans and corn and sunflowers as well.

In some areas we were seeing that the soil was drying out quite a bit so it’s nice to have that additional rainfall for those longer season crops. Crops for the most part are looking quite good. In areas like parts of the Interlake that did have significant flooding, people are reporting that their crops are looking much better than expected. There are some areas that are still flooded and wouldn’t be expecting a crop at all but, for the most part, crops are looking good. Because of that heavy rain, we have seen some lodging in some pea and cereal crops which will cause some harvest complications but, for the most part, yields are looking good and we are seeing good crop progress.

~ Anne Kirk, Manitoba Agriculture

Kirk says, if the weather holds and we don’t see rainfall, farmers will be wrapping up the winter cereal corps and moving into the spring cereals, peas and canola over the next week.