INNISFAIL - The recent unseasonably warm early November weather has jump-started a frenzied resumption of harvest by area farmers who were losing hope of getting their crops off the fields before the full wrath of winter sets in.
“I am elated. I was kind of worried there for a while,” said Dale Ray, who grows canola, wheat and barley on his 1,800-acre farm 23 kilometres east of Innisfail. “The Indian summer kind of pulled through for us. Everybody here in the community is just giving 'er as hard as they can.”
After one of the wettest summers on record, followed by an early cold, snowy October, most farmers in the region were only able to harvest 60 per cent of their crops. But the balmy early November that has seen temperatures rise into the teens has given producers renewed optimism.
“In the middle of October we had those two big dumps of snow. I thought we were done. We are sort of blessed with what we have right now. It is going up to 15, 16 (Celsius). That is ridiculous,” said Art Preachuk, agriculture manager for Red Deer County. “We have a chance to get it off yet but grades are not going to be the best for sure. At least they got some volume, some feed grain to sell.
“Every day you can get out into the field is a total bonus and they will be putting in some long hours,” added Preachuk. “You can choke back five or 10 per cent, but when it's sitting at 40 per cent that's all your profit and then some.”
However, while temperatures are expected to remain unseasonably high for the rest of this week, weather reports were calling for the possibility of snow and rain for tomorrow.
In the meantime, Innisfail-area farmer Rick Kemp said he has never had so much crop still out in the field this late in the season, but if Mother Nature can continue to hold off on sustained rain and snow for a little bit longer he's confident he will be able to get most crops off.
“On Saturday (Nov. 5) we got a couple of hundred acres done. We had 700 acres left when we started today (Nov. 8), out of about 2,600,” said Kemp, who produces canola, wheat, barley and peas on his farm four kilometres northwest of Innisfail. “We have land out by Markerville and Spruce View and out there it is quite wet, and we actually brought out a grain cart because we couldn't get around the fields with a grain truck.
“But I (also) farm just west of the golf course and most of the land here is fine now.”
And while he has hope most of his crops will be harvested, he is aware that some low-grade qualities will cut into revenues.
“The high value crop I hope to get off anyhow,” said Kemp, pointing out canola has “strengthened” in value at over $11 a bushel due to the slowness of harvesting while sagging barley prices are hovering at around $3.
“The canola is not affected by the crappy weather because it's an oilseed,” he said, adding he has crop insurance through the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC). “My canola is still number 1, but the barley could have gone malt but now it will just be feed.”
Meanwhile, Marcus Miller, AFSC communications specialist, is reminding farmers they have until Nov. 15 to submit harvest production reports for crop loss claims.
“We know wet weather has really put a damper on the harvest, but we know that up until November 15 producers are going to continue to harvest, and they are probably going to continue to harvest after November 15 if conditions are good,” said Miller, adding most insured farmers “likely” have a component in their policies to apply for relief on crop quality losses.
“If there are unharvested acres and they have not been able to harvest their entire crop, there is a section in the harvest production report that is called Unharvested Acreage Benefit and the supplementary advance,” said Miller of other options for farmers. “These two benefits are meant to address cash flow and concerns producers have.”
For more information on the AFSC's claim policies visit the provincial Crown corporation's website at www.afsc.ca
