Corn west of Mitchell, Man. on Oct. 17, 2018. (Dave Bedard photo)

Ready, set go! Harvest reprieve hits Prairies

CNS Canada — Prairie farmers struggling to get crops off fields under wet, cold conditions are about to get a reprieve — if they haven’t seen warmer weather already in their area. Natalie Hasell, a weather preparedness meteorologist for Environment Canada in Winnipeg, said most regions of British Columbia, Alberta, and southern and central Saskatchewan […] Read more




Harvest progress behind five-year average across Alberta

Alberta crop conditions as of October 9, 2018

Reading Time: 1 minute Generally, harvest progress has been slow due to wet conditions across the province and lower than normal temperatures since the end of August. Provincially, about 47 per cent of major crops have now been harvested, up nine per cent from a week ago. Comparing harvest progress over recent years, 2018 has been the most delayed […] Read more


Cold weather, snowfall, slow harvest progress further

Alberta crop conditions as of October 2, 2018

Reading Time: 2 minutes The month of September has been exceptionally cold across the province and, for many areas, unusually wet. Although cool damp weather conditions have halted harvest operations in many areas, this has led to normal precipitation accumulations for most areas of the province. Adding to this was the large snowfall event in the southern and western […] Read more



It was the second, heavier September snowstorm that flattened big chunks of his wheat fields, said Jason Lenz.

It was more Standstill than September for many

Many weren’t able to ‘turn a wheel’ during what should be the golden days of autumn

Reading Time: 4 minutes It was a September that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. “Harvest is at a standstill and it’s been that way for about three weeks now,” Alberta Wheat chair Kevin Bender said as the month came to a close. “For the most part, guys haven’t been able to turn a wheel yet.” Bender, […] Read more

This photo and the one on the front page were taken at Crooked Lake Farm in the third week of September.:

Opinion: A cheerful wave or sympathetic ear this harvest season really does help

A little empathy will be much appreciated during this year’s long and difficult harvest

Reading Time: 2 minutes Please don’t read this as a complaint; this isn’t meant to be a complaint. With the recent snows in Alberta over the past two weeks, there are a lot of farmers on edge. So many farmers haven’t even turned a wheel in their fields, or if they have, they are either drying their grain or […] Read more


ICE November 2018 canola (candlesticks) and October 2018 soybean oil (green line). (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Soyoil, not weather, main influence on canola

CNS Canada — Wet and snowy weather now plaguing the Prairies isn’t to blame for the canola market’s recent upswing, according to one trader. “Canola’s been firm but it really hasn’t shown any reaction whatsoever to the weather; it’s going up because bean oil’s going up and it’s lagging the bean oil gains by quite […] Read more