Saskatchewan reported 15 per cent of its harvest was complete, compared to 21 per cent at this time last year, but higher than the five-year average of 13 per cent and the 10-year average of 11 per cent. In the southwest region, 29 per cent of its harvest was complete while the northwest region was only at one per cent complete.

Fourteen different crops have already come off the ground in the province, including 62 per cent of the fall rye crop and 61 per cent of the triticale crop. Winter wheat (56 per cent), lentils (50 per cent) and field peas (44 per cent) were not far behind. The barley and mustard harvests were both 17 per cent finished, with durum at 14 per cent, oats at 11 per cent and soybeans at 10 per cent. Canaryseed, chickpeas and spring wheat were at four per cent while canola was at two per cent.

Out of the fall rye crop, 57 per cent was graded as 1 CW. For the winter wheat crop, 61 per cent was graded as 1 CW with another one per cent graded as feed.

While many areas in Saskatchewan received no precipitation during the week, the Craven area had 69 millimetres of rain, followed by the Strasbourg area at 66 mm and the Caron area at 52 mm.

Cropland topsoil moisture was 35 per cent adequate, 41 per cent short and 24 per cent very short. Hayland topsoil moisture was 31 per cent adequate, 44 per cent short and 25 per cent very short. Pasture topsoil moisture was 25 per cent adequate, 43 per cent short and 41 per cent very short.

Four per cent of pastures were rated in excellent condition, 22 per cent were good, 36 per cent were fair, 25 per cent were poor and 13 per cent were very poor.

An ongoing lack of moisture and higher temperatures led to crop damage during the week, while crop lodging occurred due to wind and hail damage. Grasshoppers continue to have a presence in drier areas, while canola fields are seeing greater amounts of sclerotinia stem rot development this year.

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Approximately, 72 per cent of the province’s fall rye crop was harvested, including 95 per cent in the central and eastern regions. In addition, 60 per cent of Manitoba’s winter wheat was combined, as well as 21 per cent of field peas, 15 per cent of barley, and three per cent of both spring wheat and oats. However, only three per cent of Manitoba’s harvest was complete overall.

Early yield estimates for fall rye and winter wheat were 80 to 110 bushels per acre in the central region and an average of 75 bu./ac. in the eastern region. Spring wheat quality was rated the best in the central region at 85 per cent good to excellent, followed by the northwest region at 80 per cent and both the eastern and Interlake regions at 70 per cent. The southwest region was at 65 per cent. Meanwhile, the latest planted spring wheat fields were in the soft to hard dough stages. Corn was in the R1 (silking) to R3 (milk) stages.

Swathing and pre-harvest applications were ongoing for canola, while the latest seeded fields ranged from flowering to pod-fill. Sunflowers in Manitoba were in the R5 (flowering) and R6 (seed development) stages, while most flax fields were in stages 10 and 11 (brown capsule).

Yield estimates for field peas were reported in the central region at 30 to 55 bu./ac., as well as “average” in the southwest region. Later seeded fields in the R6 and R7 stages will be harvested shortly. Soybeans in the central and eastern regions were in the R5 and R6 stages, while those in the rest of the province were in R4 and R5. However, soybean aphids were present in some fields.

Forage growth improved thanks to warm weather and rainfall as moisture was needed to replenish root reserves for winter. The first cut of tame forage was complete with work on native stands and slough hay continuing. Dairy farmers reported good yields on their second cut of alfalfa with some in the central region completing a third. The first cut beef hay harvest was complete, as well as a second cut of tame hay in some areas with yields reported as “very good” in the eastern region. Yields for cereal silage range from average to above average. However, high humidity and morning dew has led to producers using grass intended for hay as bale silage.

Pastures improved in areas that received rainfall during the week, while rotationally grazed pastures performed the best under hot and dry conditions. Cattle on pasture were in excellent condition in the eastern region. Dugouts were at 70 per cent normal capacity with adequate water supplies. Producers were on the lookout for pink eye and foot rot in their cattle while trying to control fly numbers.

Kane, in the central region, received the most rain during the week at 54.8 millimetres. However, Swan Valley in the northwest as well as multiple locations in the Interlake received no precipitation whatsoever.

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Winter wheat was at 57 per cent complete with fall rye at 53 cent done as of Aug. 13. Spring barley came in at nearly three per cent harvested with spring wheat and durum at less than one per cent off of the fields. In between were the lentils at 28 per cent harvested, dry peas at 21 per cent and chickpeas below one per cent. The combining of oats, triticale, mixed grain, and canola had yet to start or were too small to be included in the crop report.

Overall harvest progress in Alberta was calculated to be a little more than three cent finished, a pinch above the five-year average.

The south region was furthest along at more than five per cent combined, with the central region at three per cent, Peace at two per cent, while the northeast and northwest were below one per cent.

As for crop conditions, the provincewide rating for all crops was 44 per cent good to excellent, up two points from last week. By region, the south led at 60 per cent good to excellent, Peace at 54 per cent, the northeast at 51 per cent, the northwest at 29 per cent and the central at 21 per cent.

The provincewide yields for dry land major crops were estimated to be 70 bushels per acre for oats, 60 for barley, 47 for spring wheat, dry peas at 38, and canola at 34. The first cut of dryland hay yielded 1.5 tons per acre with the second cut at 0.9.

Precipitation during the week in Alberta saw the central, northwest, Peace and south regions get up to 15 millimeters while the northeast had less than five.

Surface soil moisture levels were 32 per cent good to excellent across the province. By region, the moisture levels in Peace rated 49 per cent good to excellent, followed by the northeast at 35 per cent, the south at 34 per cent, the central at 27 per cent and the northwest at 23 per cent.

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Case IH and New Holland’s parent firm CNH and Honey Bee Manufacturing say they’ve set up a partnership agreement for compatibility between those two windrower lines and Honey Bee’s WSC Swather series draper heads.

The draper’s components and wide swathing widths, along with the “speed and precision” of the Speedrower Plus, make for “a fast and efficient harvesting solution,” New Holland and Honey Bee said Tuesday in a release.

The combination of a WSC30 Swather draper head with the Speedrower 260 Plus was first put on display at an Ag PhD Field Day event at Baltic, S.D. on July 25, while the Honey Bee draper heads for Case IH windrowers were launched the previous week at Ag in Motion at Langham, Sask.

“Operations that swath grains have been asking for a draper head solution to work with our Speedrower Plus series self-propelled windrowers and we listened,” Josh Harkenrider, commercial hay and forage product marketing manager for New Holland Agriculture in North America, said in Tuesday’s release.

“We’re confident this partnership will provide a robust solution for customers as it combines the experience from Honey Bee with the productivity, precision and performance of our windrowers.”

New Holland and Honey Bee said the combination will be available in two draper head models, the 30-foot WSC30 and the 36-foot WSC36. Both will include the SCH Easy Cut cutting system with spring steel guards including cutting edges on the top and bottom, plus alternating, bolted, heat-treated sections, which the companies said will “eliminate” the need for hold-downs.

“When you combine the wide cutting widths and the array of proven components, along with the hydraulic capacity, advanced SensiDrive drive-by-wire controls and easy-to-use precision solutions on our Speedrower Plus Series, customers can expect a faster and more efficient harvest for seasons to come,” Harkenrider said.

The WSC30 and WSC36 are also the models compatible with Case IH’s WD5 units. Case IH said the Honey Bee draper heads with adjustable castering gauge wheels will “eliminate gouging and crop scuffing.”

The Case IH/Honey Bee collaboration “unlocks the draper potential of the WD5 series windrowers for small grain and canola producers,” Brian Spencer, Case IH marketing manager for hay and forage products, said in a separate release last month.

“Every minute a machine sits idle cuts into producers’ bottom lines,” he said. “The Honey Bee draper heads include heavy-duty rollers for a longer service life. They can also quickly replace reel fingers with only pliers and a wrench to get the equipment back in the field faster.”

Case IH said the draper heads’ integrated transport function will also allow operators to save time moving from field to field with “quick and convenient field-to-road conversion.”

Jamie Pegg, general manager for Honey Bee, said in Tuesday’s release that the partnership agreement “puts our proven platform into the hands of more farmers through CNH Industrial’s robust dealer network.”

Honey Bee was founded in 1979 by brothers Greg and Glenn Honey and their wives at Bracken, Sask., about 155 km south of Swift Current. The company expanded into harvest headers in the 1980s and set up shop at nearby Frontier in 1987.

The company today operates on over 100,000 square feet of production and warehousing space, selling into both the domestic and export markets. Its other product lines include the AirFlex, Grain Belt and Rice Belt header systems and the Rod Master rod weeder. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Soybean futures followed corn higher, reversing earlier losses as the government’s harvest outlook fell short of the average trade estimate, while wheat prices declined.

In its monthly supply-and-demand report, USDA raised its corn crop forecast by less than expected to 14.778 billion bushels. The average yield was trimmed to 180.7 bushels per acre, which surprised traders who had been expecting an increase.

“The corn yield was the biggest surprise and it caught traders off guard,” said Terry Reilly, senior commodities analyst with Futures International.

Although supplies of corn remain abundant, the unanticipated yield cut set the stage for further reductions as the market has already been on edge about excessive rains across the Midwest this week that have delayed harvesting.

“The reality of the heavy rains over the past few weeks, coupled with the surprise in the yield, confirms that USDA may even take the yields down further from where they put them today,” Reilly said.

USDA pegged soybean production at 4.69 billion bushels, with yields averaging a record 53.1 bushels per acre. Both of those forecasts were also below trade forecasts.

Chicago Board of Trade December corn rose 6-1/2 cents to $3.69-1/4 a bushel, reversing losses in the three previous sessions (all figures US$). The contract broke through chart resistance at its 50-day moving average and hit its highest since Aug. 22.

November soybeans gained six cents to $8.58-1/4 a bushel after touching a 1-1/2-week low before the USDA report.

Soybean traders remain wary of escalating trade tensions between the United States and top importer China.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Thursday there was much more he could do to hurt China’s economy, as he showed no signs of backing off an escalating trade war with Beijing.

CBOT December wheat fell 2-1/2 cents to $5.08 a bushel, a 1-1/2-week low, as early support from tightening global supplies faded.

Russia, the world’s top wheat exporter, will inspect grain loading at ports because of complaints about crop standards, the head of the country’s agriculture safety watchdog said Thursday.

Traders have been monitoring changes in Russian wheat regulations because they have been used as informal curbs on exports in the past.

— Karl Plume reports on agriculture and agribusiness for Reuters from Chicago; additional reporting by Colin Packham in Sydney and Gus Trompiz in Paris.

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The agency on Thursday released data on wages paid to payroll employees in 2016.

It reported the average hourly wage paid to full-time employees, excluding overtime pay, tips, incentives and performance pay arrangements, was $27.70. However, pay rates varied widely based on occupation and geography.

Among broad occupational groups, hourly wage employees in the agriculture, natural resources and related production group were among the national lowest earners at an average of $22.15.

Harvesting labourers came in sixth among occupations with the lowest average full-time hourly wage in 2016, at $13.10, followed by nursery and greenhouse workers in seventh at $13.25. Bartenders and food and beverage servers came in lowest at $11.50 and $11.85 respectively.

StatsCan also noted some specific occupations within the lowest-earning broad groups were among the 10 per cent of occupations with the highest hourly wages, such as oil and gas well drilling workers and services operators, at $44.35.

Business, finance and administration workers earned an average of $26. This occupational category also registered the highest full-time employment in the country, representing 24.8 per cent of all full-time employment in Canada.

Management positions topped the list of hourly wage earners at $40.25, followed by natural and applied sciences at $33.45.

In the survey, six of seven economic regions in Alberta rated in the nation’s top 10 for the highest average hourly wage.

Alberta also posted high hourly wages relative to other areas in every broad occupational group, except in art, culture, recreation and sport, as well as in sales and service.

The 10 regions with the lowest hourly wages were in the Maritimes and Quebec. — CNS Canada

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Despite the harvest challenges for crops across the province, the dryland yield index was estimated 14.1 per cent above the 5-year average. However, the crop quality for cereals are below their 5-year averages, except malt barley which is higher. Crop quality for canola number one and the top two grades of dry peas are in line with the 5-year averages. About 66 per cent of hard red spring wheat has now graded in the top two grades, down 12 per cent from the 5-year average. About 54 per cent of durum wheat has graded number 2 or better, down 23 per cent from the 5-year average. About 23 per cent of barley is eligible for malt (up five per cent from the 5-year average) and 60 per cent is graded as number 1 (down seven per cent from the 5-year average). About 58 per cent of oats is graded in the top two grades, down 20 per cent from the 5-year average. Almost 81 per cent of harvested canola is graded as number one (in line with the 5-year average), with 14 per cent graded as number 2 (up two per cent from the 5-year average). About 73 per cent of dry peas are graded in the top two grades, in line with the 5-year averages.

Provincially, feed supplies are anticipated to be very good. Both forage and feed grain reserves are estimated as adequate to surplus, with very few producers anticipating a shortfall. Forage reserves are reported as one per cent deficit, nine per cent shortfall, 62 per cent adequate and 28 per cent surplus, while the rating for feed grain reserves is three per cent deficit, four per cent shortfall, 61 per cent adequate and 32 per cent surplus.

Click here to read the full report on the Alberta Agriculture website, complete with graphics and a breakdown by regions.

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“This is going to be dominated by yesterday’s reversal in the canola, and the weather,” said Ken Ball of PI Financial Corp.

Canola on Tuesday lost between $8 and $9 in front contracts, which shifted the market’s technical bias to the downside.

“Canola could lose a lot of ground if we happen to get lucky for a couple weeks with the weather,” Ball said.

Recent forecasts from Environment Canada show warmer temperatures with limited precipitation in Western Canada over the next week, which may allow producers to get into their fields to finish harvesting the remainder of the crop.

If that happens, there will likely be an influx of producer-selling, which is bearish, Ball said.

“That’s going to hit the market pretty fast, you don’t want to start to dry down and store the canola that’s been sitting there as long as it has,” he said.

However, Ball noted, some fields may still be too wet for farmers to get into, and at this time of year forecasts can change quickly, which could limit the downside in the market.

If the Chicago Board of Trade soybean market stays weak it will also add spillover pressure to canola, Ball said.

“The soy situation is likely to remain fairly subdued. If anything, the soy situation will probably be pulling canola down.”

The advancing U.S. harvest is keeping a lid on the oilseed, with producers bringing in a big supply.

Since last week, canola prices have lost $2.40 in the January contract, closing at $515.80 on Wednesday.

— Jade Markus writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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Threshing and grain moving leads airborne dust and moulds. Breathing in these elements can affect workers’ health and comfort, and, for someone with allergies, it can be life threatening.

To limit exposure have the correct and clean air filter in place when operating the combine; avoid direct exposure to dust whenever possible; properly adjust your combine to minimize grain damage and the amount of dust being generated; wear a new certified N-95 dust mask (respirator) that fits properly; and avoid dust exposure in the case of any chronic respiratory health issues.

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“You’ve grown it, you’ve put the inputs into it, and it’s free for the taking. Why not take it?” said Nathan Gregg, project manager at the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute.

Harvest losses depend on the crop, but typically, one to two bushels per acre is considered an “acceptable” loss, said Gregg.

“Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, we see up to five to 10 bushels an acre of losses,” he said. “I’ve been in fields where we’ve seen losses of 15 bushels per acre in a canola crop that the producer thought he was doing a good job with.”

Losses can be caused by many factors, but they start with a “lack of awareness,” said Gregg.

“Not checking to see if losses are there is the main culprit on a lot of operations,” he said. “I think we’re getting a little bit better. The message is getting through, and producers are starting to check, and that’s somewhat related to the price of commodity grains.

“As people are checking more, they’re doing a better job of limiting those losses.”

That can be tough to do during the busy harvest season, though.

“It’s a busy season and there’s lots to get done,” he said. “The goal on everyone’s mind is to get that crop off before something happens to it, so stopping to check is not really high on the agenda when there’s a nagging concern to get the job done.

“But checking in any format is better than not checking at all.”

The best way to check is to remove the chopper from the combine and drop residue material in a windrow behind the machine, using a catch pan to collect the residue in order to measure losses.

“But a lower-effort methodology is to try and catch the residue as it’s discharged off the straw chopper or residue spreader. That’s not terrible — it’s just not as good,” said Gregg.

“It introduces opportunities for error. The loss that comes out of the combine may not be distributed evenly, so if you’re just catching a pan on the periphery of the discharge pattern, that may not be where the grain is discharged, even though that’s where some of the straw and residue is.”

Once the discharge is caught, you can remove the residue, either by hand or using a small leaf blower, to get a seed count.

“Collect the loss, and in some format, try to apply a metric to that, whether that’s seed counting on larger kernels or by weight or by volume — anything that gives you context to know whether the adjustments that you’re making in speed or combine settings are resulting in more or less loss.”

Harvest loss triggers

Once you’re aware of how much seed you’re leaving in the field, you’ve won half the battle, said Gregg.

“The fact that you’re even considering it will make it so that you’re paying attention when those environmental conditions change throughout the day,” he said, adding wind or temperature can affect how the crop flows through the combine.

“If you’re paying attention, maybe you’ll start to realize some of those triggers and realize you need to adjust some of your settings or your travel speed to adapt to the crop conditions.”

Losses can happen in many places — “from environmental shattering losses to losses at the header and the cutter bar and throughout the combine process itself. There’s different opportunities for grain to be lost and not retained in the combine.”

But one of the primary causes is human nature — giving into the desire to get the job done faster.

“There’s always settings and optimizations that can be made to try to address the crop conditions and cater the machine to that,” said Gregg. “Typically, speed is the thing that tends to get neglected. We think that we can drive at a certain speed in all conditions at all yield levels.”

New combines have so much horsepower that they don’t always give you a “visceral response to tell that something isn’t going quite right.”

“You don’t feel the rumble in your seat or hear the engine pull down like it used to in heavy conditions.”

Producers also need to realize “it’s not one setting for one crop all season,” he added.

“We need to be in tune with what’s going on with the environment,” said Gregg.

“First-harvest wheat will behave differently in the combine than last-harvested wheat. We need to be aware of how that can change over the course of a season and even over the course of the day.”

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