Manitoba farmers with swathed canola watched in dismay Sept. 30 as strong winds scattered their remaining crop. The wind came ahead of a cold front that blanketed the western part of the province with frost warnings.
Why it matters: Late September winds threatened unharvested crops across the province.
Environment and Climate Change Canada clocked 94 kilometre an hour gusts in Brandon Sept. 30. Dauphin, similarly, saw 91 km/h gusts; Pilot Mound was blasted by 90 km/h winds; Gretna and Morden both reported 78 km/h gusts and Melita and Gimli topped out at 71 km/h.
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Manitoba Agriculture’s Oct. 2 crop report noted 86 km/h winds at Keld in northwestern Manitoba. The region lagged the rest of the province in harvested canola acres at 65 per cent. Canola swaths were blowing due to wind Sept. 30, the report said.
Province-wide, 78 per cent of canola was in the bin by that date. Manitoba Agriculture estimated that 25 per cent of acres were still in the field in the southwest, while other regions ranged from 80-85 per cent complete.
Anne Kirk, cereals specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, expressed relief that the windstorm didn’t come earlier in September, when harvest for lighter crops like canola and oats was still in full swing. Cereal harvest was largely complete by Oct. 2.
She also noted the risk of canola pod shatter in high winds.
“We are lucky that a big majority of the crops were harvested before the storm,” Kirk said.
Some regions in Manitoba did see damage.
“It would vary region to region and also by crop type and what has been harvested,” Kirk said. “Some regions have had some … swaths remaining, and those would have been damaged. Other than that, there would have been a lot of crops on the ground that would be waiting for harvest.”
There were plenty of scattered swaths in parts of the southwest, according to Breanna Miller, an agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada based near Portage la Prairie.
“It was pretty ugly and made for a difficult harvest,” she said, though relatively few farmers in that area were affected.
Harvest progress
Field peas and cereal crops were 95 to 100 per cent harvested, the province estimated. Only 17 per cent of flax was harvested, while soybean harvest was progressing.
Soybean harvest began in earnest in central Manitoba in the first week of October. As of Oct. 2, 29 per cent of acres were harvested. In central Manitoba and the Interlake, numbers crept up to 40 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively. Only 60 per cent of dry beans had been harvested across Manitoba by Oct. 2.
In total, Manitoba’s harvest was estimated at 73 per cent complete: 81 per cent in the central region, 75 per cent in the east, 73 per cent in the Interlake and 62 per cent in the northwest.
Straw baling was nearing completion, and bales are being hauled to feed yards, Manitoba Agriculture noted. Forage and pasture growth outpaced last year, thanks to favourable moisture conditions early in the season.
The last remaining tame and native hay harvest was drawing to a close. Corn silage operations had started in the northwest, while other areas reported 50 to 75 per cent of silage was done, with yields ranging between six and 10 tonnes per acre.
