Manitoba soybeans are edging closer to harvest, with southern fields just a week away, but rain, as always, poses a challenge to producers.
Beans in southern Manitoba have ripened faster than other parts of the province, and will be ready to harvest by early next week, said Dennis Lange, farm production advisor with Manitoba Food, Agriculture and Rural Development.
Other parts of the province are about a week away from brown-pod maturity, and 10 to 14 days after that they’ll be ready to harvest, but they are still further along than this time last year.
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Lange attributes faster development to the heat the province saw throughout August.
However, Manitoba also saw a lot of precipitation.
“Maybe a little too much rain, so it might make harvesting challenging.”
Environment Canada has forecast a sunny weekend with minimal chances of rain in southern Manitoba, which should help dry fields up.
As for the rest of the province, farmers are keeping their fingers crossed over the next few weeks.
“Overall I think growers are excited to get into fields and see what the yields are going to be like.
As for cooler temperatures, Lange said beans should be far enough along that frost, if it hits, shouldn’t pose an issue.
“It might just clip the top few leaves off, but most of the beans are good.”
Statistics Canada has projected this year’s Manitoba soybean production at 1,243,800 tonnes, compared to 1,107,700 the year prior.
Province-wide soybean harvest is expected to be in full-swing by the end of September.
