LAKELAND – Harvest is underway in the Lakeland and the overall outlook for crop yields is below average.
Glen Ockerman, reeve for the County of St. Paul, told Lakeland This Week on Sept. 27, the harvest season in the St. Paul area is progressing faster than expected. At the time, he said harvest in the County is about 30 to 40 per cent complete.
Yields for cash crops like canola are below average due to early heat and moisture issues, particularly in July, according to the reeve.
For most of the wheat that was harvested earlier on, yields are “just mediocre or below average,” with some of the later crops showing slightly better results, he said.
Hay yields this year are “surprisingly” showing positive yields, said Ockerman. Yields are average to above average, considering the heat and lack of moisture earlier in the year. “There turned out to be more hay around than we thought.”
However, Ockerman said yields across the board are average and below average this season.
Producers are also facing other challenges, he said, including rising input costs increasing by over 30 per cent over the past two years, while commodity prices for crops like canola and wheat are sometimes below the cost of production.
MD of Bonnyville
Matt Janz, general manager of the MD of Bonnyville’s Environmental and Protective Services, echoes a similar sentiment.
Janz said canola prices are depressed with the decrease in demand.
In the MD of Bonnyville, canola crops are below average when considering yield, quality, and price, this year.
“The heat in July really hit canola the hardest with the heat blast, and now with harvest, farmers are having challenges with green seeds being high,” he explained. “They are having to wait for the green count to go down by either swathing or by desiccating the crop.”
As of Sept. 27, the MD’s harvest was around 70 to 80 per cent complete.
Compared to previous years, overall yields for cereal and specialty crops are average to below average, according to Janz.
Meanwhile, the quality of the cereals that have been harvested is good, with some showing a poorer quality – again due to the heat in July.
The silver lining, despite some challenges, according to Janz, is that the weather has been cooperative so far this fall. Grains are coming off the fields dry.
“This area in the past few years has had good crops, so with one season being below average – [producers] could be in worse shape,” he said.
“One of the bigger concerns in the future is soil moisture being depleted over the past couple of years and being a dry summer and fall. The farmers are hoping for above average moisture this winter to replenish the soil, sloughs, and dugouts,” concluded Janz.
Lac La Biche County
Harvest in Lac La Biche County is also ongoing, and staff with Lac La Biche County are waiting until harvest is complete to do a final evaluation.
“From what we know, crop yields are below average this year,” said Jihad Moghrabi, manager of Communications and Marketing at Lac La Biche County.
He said the County will conduct more farm visits to determine the specifics.
