The harvest in Saskatchewan advanced 13 points for the week ended Sept. 16, at 74 per cent complete, despite rain in some parts of the province. The pace of combining was eight points behind this time last year, but 11 ahead of the five-year average.
Hot and dry weather saw crop conditions decline across much of Western Canada over the past month, with the latest model-based production estimates from Statistics Canada showing downward revisions in both canola and wheat production from the August report.
Combining of major crops in Alberta progressed 23 points during the week ended Sept. 10, reaching 54 per cent, according to the province's latest weekly crop report. While dry weather helped to advance the harvest, crop yields were not meeting expectations.
Saskatchewan’s harvest was more than halfway finished at 61 per cent complete, although not as much as the 68 per cent complete from one year ago. The figure was higher than the 42 per cent reported last week, the five-year average of 50 per cent and the 10-year average of 46 per cent. The southwest region was the nearest to completion at 85 per cent while the northeast region’s harvest was only at 34 per cent.
United States oats futures and Western Canadian cash bids for the cereal crop are seeing very different levels of activity in the first half of September.
Average prices for the majority of crops grown in the Prairies were lower this July compared to the year before, while cattle prices continued to rise, according to Statistics Canada's (StatCan) monthly farm product prices released on Sept. 10.
Warm temperatures and only minor rain delays allowed farmers in Alberta to make good harvest progress during the week ended Sept. 3, according to the latest provincial crop report. Total harvest progress for major crops came in at 31.5 per cent, which was up from 18.2 per cent the previous week and roughly double the