Harvest is proceeding at a "snail's pace," reported Director of Agriculture Services Matt Janz to MD council on Wednesday. Although not at the meeting, Janz's report said very little harvest is happening in the Lakeland.
He said peas are slowly being harvested and canola swathed in most areas, but that cereal grains will need several dry and warm days to get them in the bins. He added that cattle farmers are having difficulty trying to get the rest of the hay crop harvested.
Fort Kent farmer Maurice Campeau confirmed with the Nouvelle that he had a few good weeks of haying in early August, but since then and before that, "it's a trying thing to do because of the wet and miserable weather. It's not the best of times for making hay."
Campeau cut his canola earlier and is waiting for dry weather to combine. His barley is still standing and waiting for warmer weather to swath. With 50 years of farming under his belt, he's seen crops buried under snow, but more often good threshing weather in October. He added that farmers live on hope, and that he's hoping for some dry weather to finish.
Farmer Gordon Graves joked that a snail's pace would be pretty fast compared to the rate of harvest occurring now. "It's pretty much at zero."
Graves, delegate for the Alberta Beef Producers and a farmer member of the Agricultural Services Board, is waiting to drop his hay due to moisture, but "pretty soon if we're going to do it we have to do it." He described the weather conditions as more of a nuisance than an emergency, and said conditions at the end of the month would play a bigger role in determining the outcome of this year's crops.
Fortunately the rain hasn't hurt the canola, but the moisture could negatively impact the cereal crops, Graves said. He noted that several farmers' crops have declined in grade. He said crops got off to a slower start with the cooler weather in spring, and that with the tremendous growth during summer, crops haven't ripened as fast as usual.
