Some well-timed heat has helped Sturgeon County farmers finish their crops this month just in time for the fall harvest.
Sturgeon County farmers are expected to start swathing and combining grain crops in earnest this week, as is typical for this region. It is a marked change from last year, where excessive heat more or less incinerated crops in the field, prompting many farmers to cut their losses and start harvesting as early as the first week of August.
Many crops were about a week behind for most of this growing season due to 2022’s cold spring, said farmer Ron Krywko, who was swathing crops west of Morinville when reached by The Gazette Aug. 26. While some farmers had started on their peas or barley, Krywko said the county was probably still a week away from full-on harvest activity.
Wayne Groot, who grows grains and potatoes east of Gibbons, said he had started collecting his wheat, peas, and barley as of Aug. 26, but planned to give his potatoes another week or so before digging them up.
“I think we’re getting pretty close to caught up,” he said from his combine harvester.
“With all this heat, things are ripening fast.”
Looks good so far
About 88 per cent of crops in Alberta were still standing as of Aug. 23, the Alberta Crop Report showed — just slightly more than the five-year average of 86 per cent. Yields for spring wheat, barley, oats, canola, and dry peas were estimated to be slightly above the 10-year average in almost all regions, with the Peace leading the pack at 20 per cent above. The exception was Sturgeon County and the North West region, which was about three per cent below average. Crops around Sturgeon were otherwise doing well, with about 80 per cent ranked good or excellent.
Sturgeon County was in the midst of a heat wave in late August, with average temperatures at 1:25- to 1:50-year highs (“extremely warm”) from Aug. 18-24, reported the Alberta Climate Information Service. That heat helped drive soil moisture reserves down to 1:25- to 1:6-year lows for much of the region.
Groot said the heat made for great harvesting weather, and reduced the need to artificially dry crops with herbicides.
“There’s a lot of optimism right now for most farmers,” he said, as high yields and crop prices could offset this year’s high input costs.
Groot and Krywko said residents should expect plenty of dust kicked up in local fields and lots of big farm equipment on the roads in the coming weeks as farmers either straight-cut or swath their grains. Provided it doesn’t rain, most farmers should have their crops in by early October.
The next Alberta Crop Report is slated to come out Sept. 2. Visit www.alberta.ca/alberta-crop-reports.aspx for details.
