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This information has been made available by Agriculture Financial Services Corporation.
The July 7, 2015 Alberta Crop Report is also available as a PDF file on the AFSC website
Alberta Crop Conditions as of July 7, 2015 (Abbreviated Report)
Crops are entering the reproductive stage of their development as cereals head and canola and peas are in flower. Temperatures returned to more normal levels last week and spotty showers were active in all regions but the occurrence of significant precipitation remains elusive. Rain along the US/Canadian border was very beneficial to those producers in southern Alberta who were able to take advantage of the event. Precipitation in other regions improved surface soil moisture ratings minimally in the South, Central and NE regions but was not substantial enough to improve sub soil moisture ratings as the area rated poor increased in all regions. Overall, surface soil moisture ratings were virtually unchanged at 21% rated good or excellent. Sub soil ratings declined to 23% rated good or excellent from 25% last week.
Crop condition ratings declined 3 percentage points over the week to 27% rated good or excellent. Ratings declined in all regions with greatest drop occurring in the Central region. Hay and pastures are in dire need of moisture. Ratings fell a further 4 points to only 12% rated good or excellent. See Table #2 for detailed hay/pasture ratings by region. Reports indicate pasture growth is so poor that it cannot keep up with grazing and hay yields could be less than 50% of average. Precipitation is needed immediately in order to be able to take advantage of a dryland 2nd cut hay crop later in the summer.
Regional Assessments:
The 2015 Alberta Crop Report Series provides summaries for the following five regions:
Region One: Southern (Strathmore, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Foremost)
- Precipitation along extreme south portion of region in amounts of 50 mm. Remainder of region received spotty showers.
- Crop condition ratings declined 3 percentage points over the week to 40% rated good or excellent.
- Surface soil moisture ratings improved marginally as good or excellent rose 2 percentage points to 26% and poor fell 3 points to 40%. Sub soil moisture declined by 3 points to 34% good or excellent.
- Hay/pasture ratings saw a big drop over the week to 17% good or excellent from 29%. Poor ratings increased 6 points and fair rating increased 6 points.
Region Two: Central (Rimbey, Airdrie, Coronation, Oyen)
- Spotty showers throughout the region.
- Crop condition ratings declined 6 percentage points to 14% good or excellent. 32% of crops rated poor.
- Surface soil moisture was rated 16% good or excellent, virtually unchanged. Sub soil moisture ratings at 14% good or excellent, 47% rated poor.
- Hay/pasture ratings declined 2 percentage points to 9% good or excellent
Region Three: North East (Smoky Lake, Vermilion, Camrose, Provost)
- Isolated showers across the region with amounts up to 10 mm.
- Crop condition ratings declined marginally to 28% good or excellent.
- Surface soil moisture ratings showed marginal improvement due to the showers. Decline in sub soil ratings as area rated poor rose to 28%, up 4 percentage points.
- Hay/pasture ratings continue to decline with area rated poor nearing 70% of the region.
Region Four: North West (Barrhead, Edmonton, Leduc, Drayton Valley, Athabasca)
- Continues to be the most affected region of the province. A few spotty showers reported.
- Crop condition ratings at 14% good or excellent. Approximately 54% of crops in region are rated poor.
- Surface soil moisture ratings declined marginally to 69% rated poor. Sub soil moisture ratings saw a big decline with a major movement from fair category into the poor category of 12 percentage points to 50% poor.
- Hay and pastures performing very poorly with 81% rated poor.
Region Five: Peace River (Fairview, Falher, Grande Prairie, Valleyview)
- Wide spread showers throughout the region with amounts highly variable from nothing to 40 mm.
- Crop condition ratings declined 4% over the week to 31% rated good or excellent. Less than 20% of crops are rated poor with the exception of canola with 33% rated poor.
- Surface soil moisture ratings declined 9 percentage points to 43% good or excellent. Sub soil moisture fell 6 points to 42% good or excellent. 15% of region is rated poor.
- Hay/pastures ratings declined to 33% good or excellent from 38% last week. 22% are rated poor.
James Wright, Risk Analyst
Agriculture Financial Services Corporation
Actuarial, Analytics & Forecasting Unit
Lacombe, Alberta
Email: james.wright@afsc.ca
Telephone: (403)782-8336
July 10, 2015
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