While harvest continues, 2017 has been stellar
By: Kate Ayers
Staff Reporter
Optimum summer conditions have led to bumper canola and wheat crops as harvest continues in Manitoba.
“If you go over a five-year average, or a 10-year average, I would say this is one of the better crops we’ve grown in recent memory,” Dan Mazier, Keystone Agricultural Producers president, said in a cbc.ca article this morning.
Summer’s timely rains, high daytime temperatures, and cool evenings were perfect for a banner growing season. Low humidity, along with moisture reserves from last fall, have contributed to above average yields as well.
“When we went into the dry cycles, we were pretty fortunate to have low humidity, so then not much disease. The plants were treated well all during the growing season,” said Mazier.
Recent rain has delayed soybean harvest slightly, the article explained. However, soybean, corn and sunflower harvests are still expected to be strong.
“From a farmer’s perspective, you look at it as the average,” Mazier said.
“You take these years – the good years – and you make up for the bad years, or the years that weren’t so good.”