Continued Slow Progress for Manitoba Harvest

Rain and humidity continued to make for miserable harvesting conditions across Manitoba this past week, with progress falling further behind the five-year average. 

The weekly crop report on Tuesday pegged harvesting across the province at just 47% complete, up only 7 points from the previous week and now about 3 ½ weeks behind average. In the past two weeks, the Manitoba harvest has advanced just 15 points, and went from the lagging the average by a much more modest 10 days.

“Few crops were harvested last week until the weekend, since frequent drizzling rains, high humidity, and overcast conditions prevented harvest operations,” the report said, adding that any crops that were harvested before the start of this week were often tough and damp and had to be artificially dried. 

Killing frosts arrived in much of the western side of the province on the morning of Sept. 22 and much of the rest province saw frost on Sept. 27. Some crop injury is expected in green canola and soybeans, but damage is expected to be relatively light. 

The Central and Northwest are the only two regions where at least half of the crop is in the bin (57% and 50%, respectively), followed by the Southwest at 45%, the Eastern at 39%, and the Interlake at 22%.