The final crop report issued this month by Alberta Agriculture says that despite the colder weather in the bottom half of the month, there was harvest progress made.
It reported that 99 percent of crops were in the bin, well ahead of the five and 10 year averages. The forecast is calling for some warm windy conditions this week, which should help those producers who are still trying to get finished. In our region, there are about 97 per cent of the crops in the bin. Looks like the quality of wheat in our area are looking good with 94 per cent of the hard red spring wheat and 100 per cent of durum in the top two grades. Other crop qualities are strong as well.
Soil moisture reserves varied greatly throughout the province with pockets of one in 50 year lows in Central, Northwest and peace regions. There are a few dry areas north of Hanna and west of the QE II Highway in the central zone. Some very dry areas around Beiseker and Irricana. Producers will be looking for winter snow in parts of all regions to help replenish the soil moisture in preparation for planting next spring.
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