Cold weather and early snow making for a bad harvest
Posted Oct 3, 2018 6:46 am.
Last Updated Oct 3, 2018 6:49 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A major dump of snow is causing major headaches for farmers in many parts of Alberta.
The harvest had already been delayed due to cold and wet temperatures.
This latest curveball puts producers in a tough spot.
Dave Lantz farms just east of Calgary and still has 4,000 acres of canola left to harvest as well as a little bit of wheat and barley.
Lantz this has to be one of the worst years he’s seen as far as weather is concerned.
He says the problems started in September when cold and wet conditions moved in and didn’t leave, keeping farmers from getting anything done.
“You know, even if we start to see sun, it would be at least a week to 10 days — maybe longer depending on how warm it got and if the wind blows — before we would be back in the field.”
In its latest report, Alberta Agriculture says only about 33 per cent of the crop has been harvested province-wide to this point which is far behind the five-year average of 63 per cent.
