(Resource News International) — Despite extremely wet conditions at the start of the growing season, Manitoba’s soybean crop is looking very strong as producers prepare to begin the harvest.
“The crops are looking really good,” said Roxanne Roels, executive director for the Manitoba Pulse Growers Association at Carman. “They can handle water really well, and they’re looking better than most other crops out there this year.”
Brian Jack, a farm production advisor with the provincial agriculture department’s Altona office, said the moisture, as well as the recent heat wave, have been important factors in contributing to the good crop, and that this year’s crop looks to be better than last year’s.
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“It seems like there is better potential for yields because the crop is earlier. Last year yields were OK, but it was dragged out so long,” Jack said. “Time will tell whether or not there are better yields, but it looks like good potential right now, that’s for sure.”
Manitoba soybean producers averaged around 35 bushels an acre in 2009. While Roels couldn’t give an exact estimate for the 2010 crop, she expected to see higher yields.
“Average to better than average. The crops have been looking good; a few of the crops I’ve seen have had lots of pods on them,” she commented.
Once the soybeans are harvested, the majority will be leaving the province. About 80 per cent of Manitoba’s crop is exported out of Canada.
“Most of them end up going to the U.S. We don’t have a lot of local infrastructure or processing facilities here,” she said.
Jack echoed Roels’ thoughts, as he said Canada doesn’t have room to handle most of the crop.
“We’ll have to export some just because we don’t have a lot of crushing capacity here,” he said.
The majority of the soybeans are simply crushed for the oil, Roels said.
There were 510,000 acres of soybeans planted in Manitoba in the spring of 2010, higher than the projection of just under half a million. With the good crops that are out there, Roels said their projections for seeded acres will be higher come 2011.
“We predict acres are only going to increase next year,” she said.
There were 415,000 acres of soybeans planted in Manitoba in 2009.
