Glacier FarmMedia — Warm and dry conditions across the province allowed Alberta’s harvest to progress during the week ended Sept. 23.
Isolated showers had minimal impact on harvesting operations as 78 per cent of the province’s crops are now off the ground, an 18-point increase from a week earlier. This was compared to the five-year average of 69.8 per cent and the 10-year average of 56.2 per cent.
The south region led the way at 84.3 per cent, followed by the northwest at 80.1 per cent, the Peace region at 77.6 per cent, the northeast at 76.8 per cent and the central region at 71.5 per cent.
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The winter wheat, dry pea, fall rye and lentil harvests are complete, while durum was 92.3 per cent done. The spring wheat harvest was at 88.8 per cent, while the barley harvest was at 87.4 per cent, followed by mustard at 84.9 per cent and oats at 82.1 per cent. The chickpea harvest was 71.1 per cent complete, compared to the canola harvest at 55.9 per cent, the potato harvest at 52.5 per cent and flax at 35.4 per cent.
Average crop yields were 76.2 bushels per acre for oats, 72.6 for barley, 54.6 for spring wheat, 46.8 for dry peas and 42.1 for canola. Except for dry peas, all estimated yields increased from the previous week.
Surface soil moisture in Alberta was measured at 34.1 per cent poor, 40.8 per cent fair, 23.2 per cent good and 1.9 per cent excellent. The five-year average was 45 per cent good to excellent. Sub-surface soil moisture was at 28 per cent good to excellent, down three points from last week.
Provincial pasture growth was rated at 28 per cent good to excellent, down four points from the previous report. This was below the five-year average of 32 per cent.
Fall-seeded crops were rated 40 per cent good to excellent, below the five-year average of 57 per cent. Provincial dryland hay yields were estimated at 1.3 tons per acre for the first cut and one ton per acre for the second cut, indicating that current dryland hay yields are in line with long-term averages. Provincial irrigated hay yields were only reported for the South Region and were estimated at 2.5 tons per acre for the first cut and 2.3 tons per acre for the second cut.
