A touch of frost overnight, certainly in the capital region, and no doubt in many other regions of central Alberta.
That should be it for the rest of the week with overnight lows not expected to be around the freezing mark again this week. Late Friday afternoon, the provincial government came out with the latest crop report. It's no surprise that harvesting is well underway in southern regions of the province.
Ken Handford from Alberta Agriculture provides the details on the numbers throughout the province. "The harvest is underway within the province with 8% of the crop being in the bin. The initial yield estimates are they are about 14% above the previous five year average. In the southern region of the province, about a quarter of the crop has been harvested and the initial estimates are that the yields are about 43% above the previous five year average. As you move farther north, the percentages of harvest completed have gone down and so does the yield potential."
Handford notes that the numbers from the south are quite promising but things are still early. "I want to stress that the yields are very preliminary and will be firmed up as more of the crop is harvested. We are still in the very early days and many things can happen."
"The main crops that are coming off are the pulse seeded crops, the fall rye and winter wheat," comments Handford. "Provincially, the winter wheat crop is reported to being 80% in the bin and 70% of the fall rye is in the bin. The next thing you are looking at are some of the pulses, lentils 59% are completed, field peas at 38%, and chick peas at 27% harvested. Most of that is driven by what is happening in the southern part of the province."
Handford notes that it is like most years that the southern areas of Alberta are ahead of the north and the north is on par with the five year average in regards to the amount harvested. If Mother Nature cooperates, it should, hopefully, be a promising year for the grain farmers of Alberta.
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