Weather in recent years may have some farmers thinking almost fondly of the 1980s, which were even drier than the 1930s. Above is our weather page from just two years ago in the August 28, 2014 issue. Daniel Bezte wrote about yet another unusually strong area of low pressure which had brought more rain. The Prairie weather map showed some areas with 200 mm of rain or more over the past two months, and a satellite image of the previous weekend’s storm looked more like a strong winter low than typical summer weather.
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We reported on feed shortages due to the persistent flooding in western Manitoba, and the headline for the weekly crop report was ‘Heavy rains bring harvest to a halt.’ Every region of the province reported excess rainfall, with amounts up to 125 mm for the week. Heavy rain had continued from the start of the season — we reported that MASC had paid almost $63 million in extra moisture insurance on almost 2,400 claims on 985,000 acres that were too wet to seed that spring. That still didn’t match the record 2.9 million acres which were too wet to seed in 2011, triggering $162 million in payments on 5,800 claims under the EMI program.
MASC also reported on the most popular varieties seeded in 2014. It included Carberry red spring wheat, 5440 Invigor canola, 24-10RY soybeans, Conlon barley, Souris oats and CDC Bethune flax.
