Good weather aids Alta. harvest: AARD

(Resource News International) — Favourable weather conditions allowed producers in Alberta to make significant harvest progress over the past week or so, according to a provincial crop specialist on Tuesday.

Harvest operations in the Peace River region of northern Alberta were virtually complete, while in the central areas of the province, 80-85 per cent of the crop was in the bin, said Mark Cutts, a crop specialist with the province’s Ag-Info Centre at Stettler. Harvest activities in the province’s south were rated as 75 per cent complete.

The weather for active harvest progress was expected to continue through the next week to 10 days, which would allow producers across the province to finish off most of their fall fieldwork, Cutts said.

Crops left to be harvested in the south included canola and some cereals, Cutts said, noting the late start to seeding has resulted in producers harvesting so late in the season.

Some canola was also still to be cut in the central areas of the province.

Cutts said producers in general were OK with the yield potential of the crops already combined, but the quality of the crops was more of an issue.

“There were quite a few wheat crops that have turned out as feed and there were a lot of canola fields that had quite a bit of green seeds, all due to the significant frost seen in September,” Cutts said.

The late harvest prevented producers from seeding significant area to either winter wheat or fall rye crops, Cutts noted.

Topsoil and subsoil moisture levels heading into the winter were rated as adequate to excessive in the central and southern areas of Alberta, Cutts said. However, in the Peace River district, both top and subsoil levels were dry and a good replenishing rain ahead of a winter freeze-up is required.