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Crop Conditions as of October 25, 2016 (Abbreviated Report)
Harvest progress continues to struggle as it improved by only a little more than 1 percentage point over the past week to 74.5% complete and up only 5 percentage points over the last 3 weeks. See Table #1. Normally, harvest should be 95% completed or better in all regions by this time period in October. Unmelted snow remains an issue in northerly areas of the North East region and in areas of the North West region. It is expected that all crop harvested from here forward will require drying before it can go into storage without risk of spoiling.
Excessive moisture conditions continue to worsen. See Table #2. Excessive moisture is a significant issue in the North West where the rating rose to 41% of the region (35% last week) and in the Peace to 24% rated excessive from 15% last week. High excessive moisture conditions increase the potential of significant crop abandonment due to inaccessibility.
Fall seeded crops continue to perform well with over 86% of the crops rated in good or excellent condition.
REGIONAL ASSESSMENTS:
The 2016 Alberta Crop Report Series continues to provide summaries for the following five regions:
Region One: Southern (Strathmore, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Foremost)
- Harvest is wrapping up with almost 95% completed. Most areas have only special crops to complete.
- Production remaining to be harvested is concentrated in the NW portion of the region where only 80% is in the bin.
- 86% of fall seeded crops rated in good or excellent condition.
- Region in good shape for soil moisture entering freeze up. 75% of region rated good or excellent for both surface and sub soil moisture. Only 6% rated poor.
Region Two: Central (Rimbey, Airdrie, Coronation, Oyen)
- Harvest approaching two-thirds complete overall.
- Harvest is approximately 80% complete in the east portion, 75% complete in the central but trailing badly with less than 50% complete in the western portion of the region.
- 84% of fall seeded crops rated in good or excellent condition.
- Surface moisture rated at 88% good or excellent, subsoil rated at 81% good or excellent.
Region Three: North East (Smoky Lake, Vermilion, Camrose, Provost)
- Virtually no harvest progress this week.
- Approximately 75% of the unharvested spring wheat remains standing compared to 35% of the unharvested barley and oats.
- Excessive moisture is a problem immediately south of Edmonton with 25% of the area rated excessive and in the North portion with 10% rated excessive. Excessive moisture is not an issue in the east.
- 94% of the surface soil moisture and 98% of the sub soil moisture is rated good or excellent.
Region Four: North West (Barrhead, Edmonton, Leduc, Drayton Valley, Athabasca)
- Virtually no harvest this week. Light showers reported in the region.
- Approximately 75% of unharvested cereals remain standing. 84% of the unharvested spring wheat, 64% of the unharvested barley and 79% of the unharvested oats are classified as standing.
- Excessive soil moisture most notable in the west portion of the region at 60% but also in the NW at 50%. Much less of an issue in the north portion of the region at 20% rated excessive.
- 100% of region rating sub soil moisture as good.
Region Five: Peace River (Fairview, Falher, Grande Prairie, Valleyview)
- No harvest progress this week to due to sporadic rain showers throughout the region.
- Approximately 80% of the unharvested spring wheat, barley and oats remain standing.
- Excessive surface moisture ratings rose to 24% of the region from 15% last week.
Agriculture Financial Services Corporation
James Wright, Risk Analyst
Actuarial, Analytics & Forecasting Unit
E-mail: james.wright@afsc.ca
Phone: 403-782-8336
Lacombe, Alberta
October 28, 2016
Note to Users: The contents of this document may not be used or reproduced without properly accrediting Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Economics and Competitiveness Branch, Statistics and Data Development Section
The 2016 Alberta crop reporting series is available on the Internet at: http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/sdd4191
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