Manitoba Agriculture’s weekly crop report shows that harvest advanced substantially in the province, reaching 79 percent, before rain this past weekend brought work to a halt.
Sonja Wilson, an Oilseed Specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, says the spring cereals are done, including spring wheat, barley and oats, canola is getting close to complete, there was a big push in soybeans and some farmers have started on grain corn and sileage.
In terms of the spring cereals, as I mentioned previously, we definitely have had these later fields being harvested, with the amount of moisture we received, having lower quality coming off, so, being downgraded due to some sprouting, especially with the moisture and weathering in general. In terms of actual yield, the yield was about average with some variations, if there are areas that had a lot of hail damage, etc., dipping to below average, but then some that were slightly above. So, overall, average yields from spring cereals, but that quality really becoming more of a concern with this later harvest.
In terms of canola, we also have had reports of some sprouting, pod shatter and pod drop. We just had some intense wind, but less so over this past week than previously so there was definitely a big push to finish off all of those fields. We know that harvest has been quite slow in the canola, just with some of the lodging issues. So, I’m happy to hear that it’s wrapping up for quite a few. Then, in terms of soybeans, we are hearing that yields are about average to above average. We’ll continue to hear reports as more come off, but at 61 percent, most reports have been average to above average.
~ Sonja Wilson, Manitoba Agriculture
Wilson says further progress will depend on the weather. She notes growers will need dry conditions to be able to get everything off and dry weather is in the forecast until at least middle of next week, depending on location, but rain is expected Thursday.
