CNS Canada — Cold and wet conditions on the Prairies are expected to clear up over the next week, allowing a window of opportunity for harvest, though the size of that window remains to be seen. “Western and northern parts of Alberta have some serious issues,” said Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc. in Kansas […] Read more
Prairie harvest window possible next week
Springtime can be the ‘right time’ for really big snowstorms
When a buildup of warm, moist air from the south collides with cold arctic air, your snowblower can get a real workout
Reading Time: 3 minutes With spring officially here, the last thing most people want to hear about is snow. But the way this winter and spring have been going, who knows? Springtime across the Prairies tends to bring some of the biggest snowfalls of the year. Several years ago I dug into this topic, but I figured it was time […] Read more
Dry winter is just what’s needed
Reading Time: < 1 minute The so-far dry winter in Alberta is raising hopes that farmers will be able to get onto their fields early in order to deal with more than one million acres of unharvested crops. As of Jan. 31, snowpack accumulations were generally below normal in most areas (save for southern Alberta, where little to no snow […] Read more
B.C. police stop farmer clearing snowy street with Zamboni
Vancouver | Reuters — Police stopped a “well-intentioned” farmer on Vancouver Island on Monday night after he tried to clear a snowed-in neighbourhood street with a Zamboni, a vehicle for cleaning ice rinks and a fixture in arenas across Canada. Central Saanich police spokesman Dan Cottingham said on Tuesday the man told them he had […] Read more
Snowed-in canola samples wanted
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Canadian Grain Commission needs samples of late-harvested or overwintered canola. The impact of snow on canola quality has not been studied and the commission wants to assess the impact of snowed-in and overwintered canola on the quality of the 2016 crop and assess its end-use functionality. This research will help ensure the Canadian canola […] Read more
Winter wonderland piles on saturated eastern Prairies
CNS Canada — While a wave of snow slowly pummels parts of Saskatchewan and much of Manitoba, one soil moisture expert says water is still trickling through the soil into natural water channels. According to Trevor Hadwen, agroclimate specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Drought Watch program in Regina, this is a good thing, as […] Read more
Canadian wheat, canola crops seen weathering snow
Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada’s wheat and canola crops withstood wintry weather that stalled the autumn harvest, and production topped last year’s output, according to Reuters’ industry survey of 13 analysts and traders. Statistics Canada on Tuesday will issue its final crop production estimates for the 2016-17 marketing year. The industry expects, on average, all-wheat […] Read more
Harvest progress continues as winter looms
Alberta crop conditions as of November 15
Reading Time: < 1 minute With a rapidly shrinking harvest window and a few good weather days, producers made every effort to harvest as much crop as possible as the onset of winter looms on the horizon. Producers in the Central and North West regions made good progress raising the provincial harvest percentage to 87 per cent, an increase of […] Read more
Horrible fall harvest goes on and on
Many producers may have to delay seeding because they need to combine first
Reading Time: 3 minutes Keith Degenhardt thought last year’s harvest was bad. But then 2016 came along. The pedigreed seed grower from Hughenden estimated only about 60 per cent of the acres in east-central Alberta had been harvested by the end of October. “People have ordered dryers and some are putting crops in bags in hopes that they will […] Read more
Association to pay for avalanche training
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Alberta Snowmobile Association will pay for 100 of its members to take Avalanche Skills Training (AST) this winter. “In the wake of several seasons of unstable snowpack in the mountains of Alberta and B.C., the need to have proper avalanche education needs to be reinforced with snowmobilers, and anyone heading into steep terrain,” the […] Read more
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