Just-in-time rains may have saved this year’s harvest in Sturgeon County, suggests the head of Alberta’s farm crop weather service.
Alberta farmers are revving up their combines this week as the 2025 harvest gets underway. A mere two per cent of this year’s crops had been collected as of Aug. 12, Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation reported, with just 0.2 per cent of crops around Edmonton brought in.
Conor Speers of Folly Farms near Namao said he would likely start bringing in his wheat, canola, and barley after Aug. 24, which was about a week early for him.
“It’s going to be a thin year,” he predicted, as tariffs had sent fertilizer prices up while dragging canola down.
Ward Middleton said he plans a similar start date for his harvest at Midmore Farms near Morinville. This year’s late rains meant some of his crops sprouted late, which created a dilemma: should he harvest now or wait for the laggards to catch up?
“We’re hoping to start by the end of next week,” he said on Aug. 13.
Sturgeon County grain and potato farmer Wayne Groot said he will be ready to roll on his peas as soon as the rain stops, and predicted a typical late-August or early-September start for everything else.
Spotty rain delays
Groot, Speers, and Middleton said they expect a fairly average harvest this year, which they blamed on a dry spring followed by erratic summer rains.
“We’re on the verge of being too dry,” Middleton said — his farm got about half the amount of rain it would usually get, and his dugouts and wetlands were maybe 25 per cent full.
This was a drier-than-normal spring, and that reduced head size in grain crops in Sturgeon County, capping their potential yield, said Trevor Wallace, manager of Alberta Agriculture’s meteorological unit. The rains of recent weeks have helped crops fill out those seed heads and realize their potential, and likely helped pasture development; farmers whose hay got rained on while drying might have been annoyed, though.
“This year’s precipitation has been completely upside down,” he noted, with southern Alberta enjoying cool, wet conditions while the north was dry and hot.
Wallace said while Sturgeon County was a bit below normal in terms of total precipitation this growing season, the sporadic showers farmers got every week or so “saved their bacon” by providing just enough moisture to support growth.
“The timing has been good, even though the amount has been less than what you’d usually get.”
Heat-wise, Sturgeon County was considered moderately warm over the last 90 days, the province reported. While there were a few super-hot days, Wallace said the county did not see any of the week-long canola-cooking temperatures it experienced in the last two years, which was good news for that crop.
Alberta Agriculture reported 69 per cent of major crops (spring wheat, barley, oats, canola, and dry peas) were rated as good or excellent in the Sturgeon County region as of Aug. 12, which was above the five-year average of 43 per cent. While grasshopper and gopher numbers were high enough to warrant control efforts on five and eight per cent of farms (respectively) in this region, Middleton, Speers, and Groot said they hadn’t had any issues with those pests this season.
Speers said farmers want to see dry, warm conditions for the next few weeks for harvesting. He asked drivers to slow down for large farm vehicles on local roads during this time.
Visit open.alberta.ca/publications/2830245 for the latest crop reports.
