Prairies can expect far better harvest weather this fall

MarketsFarm — Prairie farmers are likely going have good weather over the next few weeks, according to Scott Kehler of Weatherlogics.

“We got a pretty significant warm-up across most of the Prairies through to the end of September. It should be fairly warm and not too much in the way of precipitation,” he said.

“At this point it’s looking like a much better fall. Last year we saw record rainfall in September. This year it’s definitely not looking like that at all. It’s probably going to be a fairly dry September on most of the Prairies.”

Looking at the current pace of harvest, in Saskatchewan farmers reached 62 per cent complete for the week ended Monday. This time last year, they were at 23 per cent finished, according to the weekly crop report from Saskatchewan Agriculture.

Alberta farmers made it to 30 per cent complete as of the week ended Sept. 15, the province’s agriculture and forestry department reported. Last year they were only 18 per cent finished.

The comparison is somewhat better in Manitoba, with farmers at 56 per cent complete in the province’s latest crop report versus 46 per cent last year.

“Overall it’s a fairly good pattern for finishing the harvest,” Kehler said.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.