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

Snowed-in canola samples wanted

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
Harvest halted. Snow flattens crops, covers swaths
Alberta crop conditions as of October 11
Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to the long term normal (since 1960), most areas in Alberta experienced more snow for this time of the year than is typical. Over the past week, harvest has come to a halt due to snow flattening crops and covering swaths, followed by cold weather. It will take time for crops to dry up […] Read more

Snow causing more harvest grief in Alberta, Saskatchewan
CNS Canada — Snow and freezing rain continues to hamper harvest progress across a large portion of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Environment Canada issued weather warnings and alerts for much of central and northern growing regions of Alberta and Saskatchewan on Friday. Up to 15 cm of snow are forecast, with freezing rain also likely in […] Read more
Alberta acres need one good soaking rain
Reading Time: < 1 minute Although over-winter precipitation accumulations were well below normal across most of Alberta, total over-winter precipitation deficits do not exceed 70 millimetres, even in the driest areas. “From a cropping perspective, these shortfalls can effectively be eased by one good soaking rain, or a few large spring snowstorms,” says Ralph Wright of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. […] Read more

Could this be one of the warmest springs on record?
AccuWeather is forecasting an exceptionally warm and dry spring — and it has good reasons for making such a bold prediction
Reading Time: 3 minutes AccuWeather came out early in February with its spring weather prediction, so I figured that maybe I should join in and take a look at what the different forecasters are calling for this spring. After all, meteorological spring starts on the first day of March (March-April-May). In what I think is a pretty bold move, AccuWeather […] Read more