The last forecast played out pretty close to what the weather models were predicting, with one small deviation: temperatures ended up being about 2 to 4 C warmer than forecasted. This will be something to keep in mind as we look at this week’s forecast. The forecast is looking rather quiet for this time of […] Read more
Prairie Forecast: Quiet, mild start to December
Issued Nov. 29, covering Nov. 29 to Dec. 6
Delayed by war, Gaza’s olive harvest is too little, too late, say farmers
'The majority of the harvest was wasted'
Gaza | Reuters — Farmers in Gaza were taking advantage of the truce between Israel and Hamas to harvest what was left of their olives after weeks of fighting during which they dared not go to their lands for fear of getting killed. In a normal year the harvest would have started weeks earlier, but […] Read more
AAFC tweaks crop supply/demand estimates in November report
Estimates hold for most exports
MarketsFarm — Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has slightly adjusted its supply/demand estimates for November. AAFC published its latest Outlook for Principal Field Crops on Tuesday. Of Canada’s major crops, the department left the 2023-24 ending stocks for canola at one million tonnes and all wheat at 3.6 million, while all other reported crops were left […] Read more
Prairie Forecast: Winter temperatures try to move in
Issued Nov. 22, covering Nov. 22-29
There is a large, deep area of low pressure spinning over the northern half of Hudson Bay along with a building area of high pressure over the Yukon. The counterclockwise rotation around the Hudson Bay low will create a north to northwesterly flow across the Prairies. This will allow the Yukon high to drop southward. […] Read more
Agritechnica update: Give a big shock to weeds
Farmers are being pushed to find an alternative to desiccants to burn down crops, as companies are increasingly leery of herbicides approved close to harvest. People have been shocking weeds with electricity for 100 years, but the return on the electricity invested and the technology required to do so safely haven’t always worked. Crop.zone is […] Read more
El Nino to continue through Northern Hemisphere spring, U.S. forecaster says
Reuters — El Nino weather conditions will continue through the Northern Hemisphere during April-June 2024 with a 62 per cent chance, a U.S. government weather forecaster said on Thursday. “Above-average sea surface temperatures (SST) across the equatorial Pacific Ocean were indicative of a strong El Nino, with anomalies increasing in the central and east-central Pacific […] Read more
Prairie Forecast: False start to winter as mild air returns
Issued Nov. 7, covering Nov. 8 to 15
It looks more and more as though our late-October cold snap and snowy conditions were indeed a false start to winter. In the last forecast I mentioned the really cold air looks to be bottled up well to our north, and it was and will be for the next week or two. You can get […] Read more
Long-range outlook points to warmer winter
Odds less likely for Prairies next three months
MarketsFarm — Warmer than normal temperatures are expected across nearly all of Canada this winter, with average precipitation for most of the agricultural areas of the Prairies. The latest long-range seasonal forecast from Environment Canada, released Tuesday, calls for a 40 per cent chance of above-normal temperatures from November through January across most of Alberta, […] Read more
Prairie Forecast Update: Warmer air not in the cards
Issued Oct. 29, covering Oct. 29 to Nov. 1
The forecast for this period has been playing out pretty close to what the weather models were predicting, but with a few small differences. For Alberta, the forecasted upper ridge does not look like it will get nearly as strong as originally forecasted as a strong northwesterly flow helps to flatten the ridge. This means […] Read more
Seaway strike backs up Ontario grain
Prairie grain may follow suit if strike backs up traffic via Thunder Bay, GFO warns
The nature of eastern Canadian grain logistics, and a strike by St. Lawrence Seaway workers who operate the system’s canals, will see cascading impacts across the system if the situation isn’t resolved quickly, according to Crosby Devitt, CEO of Grain Farmers of Ontario. Unifor workers in both Ontario and Quebec walked off the job Sunday […] Read more
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