Weather Conditions a Challenge for Manitoba Crops

Jul 20, 2022

Manitoba crop conditions are generally improved over a year ago, but hot, humid and excessively wet conditions in some locations are not making it easy.

The latest weekly crop report on Tuesday said producers are expecting normal to above-normal yields in those areas where crops have faced fewer challenges. However, only fair yields are likely in those areas where crops are badly delayed and highly variable in terms of development.

Significant amounts of rain fell across much of southern Manitoba last week and into the weekend, with 50 to 120 mm rain falling along a track from Holland to Teulon, and close to St-Pierre-Jolys this morning, the report said. Overland flooding from this morning’s storm also washed out roads and caused significant crop damage near Teulon, with over 120 mm reported in local gauges there.

Earlier strong winds and thunderstorms also lodged spring wheat, oats, winter cereals, as well as some canola and corn crops. Farmers expect most crops to recover, but dense, lodged crop canopy can encourage rapid disease infection and associated yield losses, the report said.

Fungicide use is much more common in 2022 than in the past few years, due to the density of crop canopy, abundance of rain and dew, and risk of disease development.

Spring wheat has been flowering much of the previous week, with later crops now beginning to flower. Generally, south of the TransCanada Highway, and in local areas in other regions, the wheat crop is rated mostly good to excellent, with exceptions due to extreme moisture.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.