Warm and dry weather allowed crops to mature in the southeast, and producers made good harvest progress until receiving precipitation late last week.
Warm and dry weather allowed crops to mature in the southeast, and producers made good harvest progress until receiving precipitation late last week. The rain was generally welcome, as some crops were starting to show stress, particularly those that were seeded late and had shallow roots.
The concern for farmers right now is the yields and quality of their fall harvest, as days start to get shorter now they have entered September.
Last week, Terry Benning had roughly 80 per cent of his 2011 harvest operations completed. Despite the amount of harvest done, it was still down from previous years as he was only able to seed 25 per cent of his operations.
"The flooding has significantly reduced the yields," said Benning. His operations include lentils, canola and durum, and he added, "They are all poor."
Rain fall also slowed the harvest operations for Brad Eggum, but prior to that he had harvested most of his durum crop. Eggum has 200 seeded acres of durum, which he estimates to be 10 per cent of his normal operations, that were seeded this year.
"The durum itself is okay, but the drowned-out spots are making it disappointing on yields," said Eggum. "There is also a significant amount of ergot that has to be taken care of."
Ergot reduces the grading factor of the durum, as it has to be removed before the durum can be sent away for milling.
Average yields are predicted as follows: winter wheat 38 bu/ac; spring wheat 31 bu/ac; durum 30 bu/ac; oats 49 bu/ac; barley 44 bu/ac; fall rye 37 bu/ac; flax 16 bu/ac; canola 24 bu/ac; mustard 761 lbs/ac; lentils 1,004 lbs/ac; peas 27 bu/ac; canaryseed 1,028 lbs/ac; and chickpeas 500 lbs/ac.
According to the weekly crop report from the Ministry of Agriculture, 29 per cent of the 2011 crop has been harvest, while 25 per cent is swathed or ready to straight-cut.
Of the crop that has been harvested in the southeast, 86 per cent of the winter wheat, 94 per cent of the fall rye, 12 per cent of the spring wheat and durum, eight per cent of the oats, 16 per cent of the barley, 72 per cent of the lentils, 77 per cent of the peas, 33 per cent of the canola and 15 per cent of the mustard has been combined.
Crops ready to be swathed or straight-cut include 43 per cent of the canola and 29 per cent of the mustard.
In addition to working on finishing harvest operations, Benning will also complete fall work to get his farm ready for next season. Already he has chem-fallowed to control the weed situation on his unseeded acres, noting that noxious weeds include both dock weed and Canadian thistle.
"There are also a few fields with ruts that will have be worked out, and some tall weeds that will have to be combined," said Benning.
Other work on the farm right now includes "cleaning up the weed mess on the fields, it seems like spraying is a continuous job," said Eggum. He has also combined some of the weeds, when the situation has called for it. The weeds causing him problems are curled dock and foxtail barley.
Topsoil moisture on cropland is reported as four per cent surplus, 61 per cent adequate, 34 per cent short and one per cent short. On hay land and pasture, topsoil moisture is rated as three per cent surplus, 60 per cent adequate, 36 per cent short and one per cent very short.
