Across the province the weather cooled down with snow falling along a wide swath of the foothills and east through to Red Deer, the weekly crop report from Alberta Agriculture and Forestry on Oct. 23, says. Despite the weather change harvest progress was made, with nearly 99 per cent of the provincial crop now in the bin.
Harvest progress is well ahead of the five and 10 year averages. The further north in Alberta the further ahead of average they are. Remaining acres will be a challenge to harvest, and some may be grazed, the report notes.
Soil moisture reserves are varying greatly across the province, with pockets of one in 50 year lows for some areas. Southeastern Alberta experienced very dry conditions this summer, but September rains replenished the soil moisture in the area, the report says.
“Producers will be looking for winter snows in parts of all regions to replenish the soil moisture in preparation for spring planting.”
Yield reports across the province are high overall at 108 per cent of the five-year and 107 per cent of the 10-year indexes. The unstable weather patterns resulted in highly variable yields across the province, and within each region, the report notes.
This is the last crop report of the season.
