Warmer weather in Alberta helps farmers finish up harvest

Recent warmer temperatures have been a welcome change to farmers working to finish up their harvest for the season, with nearly 78 per cent of the crop in the bin in the province according to the latest crop report from October 23.

The latest report marks a 28 per cent increase from the middle of the month, where just over half the crops were harvested.

“I know a lot of farmers were very distressed at a point in time and felt they might not get their crops off this year,” says Humphrey Banack, Vice President of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture.

“The hot dry temperatures has been a true Godsend for us. Huge gains have been made in productivity. Talking to people around the province probably by the weekend we’ll be getting close to wrapping most of this up which will be good.”

Producers were faced with rain and snowy conditions to end of September leading to surface soil moisture levels remaining high around the province for the first couple weeks of October.

“We’re harvesting some of our last canola crops,” Banack told NewsWatch on his farm near Camrose. “The weather this year has been a challenge, we had hoped to have been done long ago but the last couple weeks of weather has been a Godsend for us and we will finish soon.”

The southern and northeastern regions of Alberta are the most completed areas of the province for harvest, nearing 80 per cent. The northwest area has the most work yet to do, sitting just under 70 per cent finished.

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