Photo courtesy Erika Rolling

By Erika Rolling

Agriculture

Harvest nearly 78 per cent complete in the Peace

Sep 29, 2025 | 12:44 PM

Isolated showers didn’t dampen efforts from producers around the province aiming to get the crop off the fields, according to the Alberta Crop Report dated September 23.

Harvest advanced with warm and dry conditions, for the most part, with the provincial completion rate at 77 per cent. This is an 18 per cent increase compared to the week before, well ahead of the five-year average of 68 per cent and 10-year average of 54 per cent.

The Peace Region is in the middle of the pack for crop completion at 77.6 per cent. A breakdown of per crop completion is as follows:

• Spring wheat – 91.3 per cent
• Barley – 88 per cent
• Oats – 77.7 per cent
• Canola – 62.6 per cent
• Dry peas – 98.3 per cent

The Peace Region has the lowest yields in the province. The report did note that all crops combined are expected to be one per cent above the five-year average across the region.

Dryland yield estimates for the Peace are (bushels/acre):

• Spring wheat – 44
• Barley – 49.1
• Oats – 52.8
• Canola – 33.5
• Dry peas – 36.8

Quality estimates suggest about 96 per cent of hard red spring wheat, 18 per cent of oats, and 95 per cent of dry peas are grading in the top two grades. Three per cent of malt barley varieties are grading as 1 C.W., while 94 per cent of feed barley is grading as 1 C.W. For canola, 94 per cent is achieving a Canada #1 grade.

Surface soil moisture conditions rated good-to-excellent sit at 25 per cent provincially thanks to scattered showers. The Peace is at 31 per cent, down two per cent from the week prior.

Sub-surface soil moisture ratings provincially fell three per cent compared to the week before to 28 per cent overall, the Peace is at 34 per cent, a gain of two per cent.

The next report is due out Friday, October 3.