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A Dry September for Western Canada

After some welcome relief in August, much of September turned bone dry again across most of Western Canada.

As can be seen on the map below, aside from a few scattered pockets where rainfall was better – but still below normal – the main Prairie agricultural area has seen just 40% or less of normal precipitation over the past 30 days (shown in dark red). Combined with temperatures in the latter portion of September that were more like summer than fall, the dryness is once again ratcheting up worry over the 2022 growing season.

Indeed, a portion of the beneficial moisture that fell in August (and early September) in parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan has now likely already been lost.

Meanwhile, the latest Canadian Agricultural Weather Prognosticator from World Weather Inc. suggests farmers ought not hold their breath waiting for much-needed moisture ahead of winter freeze up. Released last week, the report said a short-term bout of wetter weather is possible in October, although it won’t be nearly enough to end the current drought.

In fact, there is little chance that drought will not be carried into spring 2022, the report warned.

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Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way



Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

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