Alberta Harvest Near Last Year’s Pace

The Alberta harvest has advanced to near last year’s accelerated pace and ahead of both the five- and 10-year provincial averages. 

Friday’s weekly crop report showed 59% of major crops in the bin as of Tuesday (spring wheat, barley, oats, canola, and dry peas). That is up from just 33% a week earlier and easily tops the five- and 10-year averages of about 36%. Last year, an estimated 61% of Alberta crops were already off amid severe drought conditions. 

An additional 17% of major crops were in swath as of Tuesday, with 24% standing.  

The harvest is most advanced in the South region, where 72% of the crops were off, up from 57% the previous week. However, the greatest weekly advance in harvest progress was made in in the Peace region, where combining jumped to 59% complete from 20%. The harvest was 62% done in the Central region, followed by the North West at 38% and the North East at 32%.