The latest edition of the Old Farmer's Almanac is out

Sep 06, 2023

For many generations, the Almanac has been found in many homes as a general guide to what we can expect to see with its long-term forecast.

The Old Farmer's Almanac with its yellow cover has been published continuously every September since 1792.

Taking a look at the Canadian edition it is predicting some moisture for what has been some of the drier areas in the Prairies this fall.

Managing Editor Jack Burnett says they're predicting average temperatures for September with temperatures a little bit (about four degrees) warmer in October.

"As far as precipitation goes. In Manitoba and Eastern Saskatchewan, we expect September could be about average. However, in western Saskatchewan and Alberta, we expect it to be wetter by about 70 millimeters, that's in September. In October, we're looking for the overall precipitation for the prairies to be about 10 millimeters below normal. November December, I have kind of the same profile, which is colder and wetter."

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Video: Seeing the Whole Season: How Continuous Crop Modeling Is Changing Breeding

Plant breeding has long been shaped by snapshots. A walk through a plot. A single set of notes. A yield check at the end of the season. But crops do not grow in moments. They change every day.

In this conversation, Gary Nijak of AerialPLOT explains how continuous crop modeling is changing the way breeders see, measure, and select plants by capturing growth, stress, and recovery across the entire season, not just at isolated points in time.

Nijak breaks down why point-in-time observations can miss critical performance signals, how repeated, season-long data collection removes the human bottleneck in breeding, and what becomes possible when every plot is treated as a living data set. He also explores how continuous modeling allows breeding programs to move beyond vague descriptors and toward measurable, repeatable insights that connect directly to on-farm outcomes.

This conversation explores:

• What continuous crop modeling is and how it works

• Why traditional field observations fall short over a full growing season

• How scale and repeated measurement change breeding decisions

• What “digital twins” of plots mean for selection and performance

• Why data, not hardware, is driving the next shift in breeding innovation As data-driven breeding moves from research into real-world programs, this discussion offers a clear look at how seeing the whole season is reshaping value for breeders, seed companies, and farmers, and why this may be only the beginning.