Decent growing weather the past couple of weeks has helped the winter wheat crops in Western Canada catch up in their development, but the harvest will still likely come later than normal.
Disease is also causing problems in some areas, said an official with the Canadian Wheat Board.
Most of the winter wheat in Western Canada is now in the heading stage, with some of the farthest along fields starting to turn colour, said Bruce Burnett, director of weather and market analysis with the Canadian Wheat Board.
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Recent warm, dry weather in the winter wheat growing regions has allowed for the winter wheat to speed up its development, but “it won’t be an early year for winter wheat,” said Burnett.
The harvest, he said, won’t likely be underway for at least a month.
Western Canadian farmers planted 565,000 acres of winter wheat last fall for harvest this year, which was behind the previous year’s level of 605,000 acres, according to Statistics Canada data.
Flooding this spring likely led to some further abandonment, he said, “but yield potential is looking good.”
Wet weather in the spring followed by humidity is leading to some disease concerns for winter wheat in the eastern Prairies, said Burnett. However, he added, farmers were spraying to deal with disease pressures.
Going forward, “it would be nice to see warm temperatures and lower humidity,” said Burnett.
