Patrick Kolafa
The Drumheller Mail
In a season, that saw no worries about crops getting enough rain, farmers are now hoping it stays dry to get their crops off.
Harvest is in full bore, however, moisture is delaying it for many producers who have no choice but to wait for the sun and wind to dry the crop.
Agricultural Fieldman for Starland County Al Hampton says with most of September in the books, he is seeing progress stifled.
“I imagine we are not even a third done yet,” he tells The Mail, explaining that he is seeing more progress made on the west end of the county.
“The weather hasn’t cooperated to the extent that most farmers would like,” he said.
He expects there may be a little bit of an impact on quality.
“I think a little bit of the wheat will probably bleach out a bit and the grade will suffer a little,” he said. “Barley and all of the malt varieties are pretty sensitive to the cool, wet conditions, so this type of stuff could deteriorate into feed quality.”
He expects oil seeds to be fine, but there has been a little bit of disease, which might affect yields.
With the moisture producers have seen this year, there were expectations of a strong yield. While for the most part he says yields appear to be satisfactory, they might not be what many were hoping for.
“Overall unfortunately, is typical of what goes on at harvest,” he said. “If you have a good crop and have had good rain, you can’t always expect a perfect fall. You’d like it, but generally, you don’t get it.”
Jason Regehr, assistant Ag Fieldman for Wheatland County, says the moisture has slowed down harvest a bit in Wheatland.
“There is lots of dew at night, so they are starting later,” he said, adding that while it looks like good progress was being made, rain put a damper on it.
“Percentage wise done? I’d say on the average we are 40-45 per cent,’ he said.
He says so far the quality appears to be okay.
“I think it has ripened off okay, we haven’t had any substantial frost,” he said. “I had a little bit of frost one morning, but I don’t think it would have been enough to cause anyone concern.”
The bottom line for most is to look to the sky.
What we need is a couple of weeks of good of weather so they can knock this crop down,” said Hampton.
