29 Our Advertisers Appreciate Your Business Better Farming | September 2024 Harvest Outlook have enjoyed favourable growing conditions with adequate rainfall, other areas, notably in the west, have seen sporadic and insufficient rainfall. These uneven weather patterns have led to mixed crop conditions across the province. Producer check-in Better Farming recently did a late-summer check-in with Prairie producers to hear how things were shaping up at press time. Adam Heavin, Saskatchewan: “It’s going good so far. All the rain caused some issues, but things are looking up. Knock on wood, everything will go smooth. We could use a bit more rain. For harvest I’d like to see 15 C temperatures, no rain, low humidity, dry crops, no breakdowns, and bumper crops.” Archie Waldner, Manitoba: “Beautiful. Things are looking up this year. It is like shopping at Walmart – things can get complicated. It would be nice to have everything running smoothly and have good yields. Nice weather would be a dream come true. Rain is not a big deal; it’s good for next year’s crop.” Lee Simanton, Alberta: “Things have been average or slightly below average, up until last night. Late seeding and cool nights early on. Then hot and dry. Then hail, which and damaged 50 per cent of our crop. Great quality corn and barley silage with average tonnage. As well as average tonnage but high quality hay cuts.” Will Muller, Alberta: “So far, lots of unexpected rain, ending a cycle of drought! Russian thistle still lingering on my dryland, but otherwise crops look good. The ideal harvest for me would be bumper crops, and no headaches!” Colin Penner, Manitoba: “Wet start, but looking good as of now. With the excess rain to start, low areas are drowned out, but good areas look fantastic. An ideal harvest would see no rain, and R.M. graders getting the roads back in shape. I’m nervous – it looks like a big harvest, but the roads might not be able to handle the trucks.” Nicolea Dow, Manitoba: “It’s been wet! The moisture has made it difficult to manage weeds. For harvest season we are hoping for no more rain! Need a good open fall with late frost to get all the late-seeded crops in.” Weather impact As Better Farming columnist Moe Agostino describes it, “Western Canada began the year with 81 per cent of its agricultural land being under drought conditions, but a very wet spring-summer reduced that to just 32 per cent in drought at the end of June.” Agostino, the chief commodity specialist at Farms.com, reports that “much of the region received near- to above-normal precipitation. This
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