After another week of strong progress, Alberta's harvest has caught up to its longer-term average, although it remains behind the more recent five-year pace.
According to Friday's provincial crop report, the harvest of major crops (spring wheat, oats, barley, peas, and canola) advanced 18 percentage points to reach 78% complete as of Tuesday, marking the third consecutive week of gains between 17 and 21 points.
The harvest of all crops reached 80% complete, compared to the five-year average of 94% and the 10-year average of 80%.
Regionally, the South leads at 89% of major crops harvested, followed by Central at 86%, Northwest at 74%, Northeast at 71% and Peace at 62%. The Central and Northwest regions are now ahead of their respective 10-year averages.
By crop, dry peas are virtually finished at 99.6%, followed by barley at 91%, spring wheat at 89% and oats at 74%. Canola is 56% harvested, with another 23% swathed.
Meanwhile, Alberta's latest provincial yield estimates are mixed compared to Statistics Canada's September model-based estimates, with spring wheat and canola lower but barley, oats and peas higher.
The province currently estimates average spring wheat yields at 53.9 bu/acre (StatsCan 55.9), barley at 73.8 (71.6), oats at 78.4 (90.8), canola at 38.1 (41.2) and dry peas at 42.1 (42.2).
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