Snow throws another wrench into already long, drawn-out harvest for Alberta farmers
Posted October 1, 2019 9:46 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
ACME, Alta. – Farmers across southern and southcentral Alberta are shaking their heads after their crops were blanketed with snow over the weekend.
It means another delay for producers in what has been a painfully slow harvest.
Matt Sawyer, who farms with his family near Acme, northeast of Calgary, says they are only about 30 per cent done.
He says this paints them into a corner, as once you turn the page on September, the days become shorter and it becomes harder to get the crop off.
“You start looking at the calendar and thinking we need ‘x’ number of days to dry this crop out,” Sawyer said. “So you are looking at a week of drying that you need for sure before you can even turn a wheel. Then you think how many days do you have left to harvest, and it adds a layer of concern or worry that you are going to get that window.”
He says the snow really sets things back and will most likely affect the quality of the crop they take off the field.
“The quality certainly will suffer. We are looking at a frost and that damages quality on the wheat and potentially barley and canola, depending on how far how along it was when it was hit with the frost.”
Kevin Serfas farms near Lethbridge, where accumulations as high as 60 centimetres were recorded between Friday night and Monday morning.
He says the area has come to a standstill.
“There’s nothing moving right now,” Serfas says.“It’s been a long time since I can remember something like this happening.”
Serfas says he managed to get his crop harvested before the storm, but it’s going to be a challenge for those who haven’t yet.
A lot of farmers are comparing this harvest to last year’s, where it took many of them a couple of months to get it off the field.
As of Sept. 23, Alberta Agriculture estimated only 33 per cent of the harvest was done province-wide.
