Manitoba Agriculture reports rain over the past week slowed harvest in some regions but not before farmers had made substantial progress.
Ann Kirk, a cereal crop specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, says we did see various amounts of precipitation over the past week across the province, ranging from just a trace to upwards of 78 millimeters and that was in the northwest region, so moisture reserves across the province now range from optimal to wet.
The northwest, the southeast and the Interlake all saw some pretty large amounts of precipitation and some damaging winds, mostly over the weekend. And we did also see a big jump in the amount of harvest competed over the past week. Farmers were able to get on their land and do quite a bit of harvesting before we had some large amounts of rainfall.
If we look at specific crops, for winter cereals in the southwest, central and eastern regions we’re very close to completion. The northwest and Interlake are a bit behind at about 60 and 70 percent complete.
When it comes to spring wheat, in the central region we’re estimating at about 25 percent complete, 10 percent in the southwest and five percent or so in the northwest, eastern and Interlake regions. Then for field peas we are seeing ranges from about 40 percent to 75 percent complete of field peas across the region. Then canola harvest is just starting in the central region and parts of the eastern region but that’s all we’re seeing right now for canola harvest.
Depending on moisture conditions and how cool it is and how early people can get out into the fields, we are expecting to see a big jump in harvest. For the most part, spring cereals would be at the time appropriate for harvest or very close to that time. I’m guessing we’ll also see a big jump in canola harvest as well as we are seeing canola reaching maturity in various parts of the province. So, we’ll likely see a big jump in harvest over the next week.
~ Ann Kirk, Manitoba Agriculture
Kirk notes we are starting to hear of winter cereals being planted as well. She says it is the time of the season when people are thinking about winter cereals and she expects a jump in winter cereal acres planed over the next week.
