Photo by Curtis Galbraith

By Curtis Galbraith

Agriculture

Heavy rain impacting some County crops more than others

Jul 10, 2020 | 2:37 PM

How much all the recent rain has affected County of Grande Prairie crops depends on when they were seeded, says Ag. Fieldman Sonja Raven.

“Some of the well-established crops, like the canola that we’re seeing in flower, and anything that got seeded earlier and in a timely fashion, it’s doing OK right now, for the most part.

“Anything that was seeded kind of late, like any canola that you’re seeing that hasn’t bolted yet, it’s struggling. Anything young is really struggling. There’s just too much water.”

Raven says field crops need heat right now, not more rain. That is especially true for cereal crops.

“It’s curtailing the farmer’s ability to manage weeds and apply herbicide. It’s causing some concern. We’re waiting for things to dry out a bit. Then, of course, if it rains after you’ve applied herbicide, well, you’ve kind of wasted your time, too.”

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Grazing land is faring much better.

“Pastures look amazing because they’ve gotten tons of moisture,” says Raven. “The hay crops, productivity was really good. Quality, if they dropped their hay at all in between here, trying to catch a couple of dry days, the quality isn’t going to be quite as good. We’re getting into a little bit over-mature and, of course, if it gets rain on it, then you’re going to definitely lose some quality.”

Raven says she has seen some hay that has been cut, but most people are waiting until there are a few days of guaranteed dry weather.