Cropping stories
As harvest season gradually switches to meeting season, it’s amazing to hear the stories of cropping successes and failures from this very unusual growing season. A lot of producers were pleasantly surprised by how well their canola did. While there are instances where canola has been badly downgraded by frost, in most cases the quality and the yield held up better than producers were expecting. On the other hand, I’ve heard lots of reports of disappointing canaryseed yields. The stand looked good, but there wasn’t much seed when it was combined. Lentil yields and quality are all over the map. There are producers in the west central region of the province that ended up having their lentils baled rather than combined. They basically gave the crop away to get the residue off the field. Some producer had hundreds and even thousands of acres that were baled. Durum is another crop with a lot of grading issues. Disease, sprouting, bleaching and frost all took a toll. Many observers believe there won’t be much barley that qualifies for malting this year. Another issue for some crops could be the planting seed supply for next year. I’m Kevin Hursh.