President of Canadians for Affordable Energy Dan McTeague gives more information on how the price of diesel is going to impact Canadian agriculture. <\/p>\n
WINNIPEG — Canada\u2019s farmers struggled to harvest this year\u2019s crops due to an unseasonably wet September, and farmers and crop quality assessors reported damage to pulse crops and spring wheat in one of the world\u2019s top-five world wheat exporters.<\/p>\n
Farmers were weeks behind their usual harvesting progress in many Prairie provinces from the beginning of September through early October, normally the driest time of the growing season. For example, by September 21, Saskatchewan\u2019s harvest was 41 per cent done, compared to the five year average of 82 per cent.<\/p>\n
Most farmers have since completed harvesting, but the crop many brought in was degraded from the top quality prospect they had at the end of August.<\/p>\n
Lack of quality crops from Canada could contribute to tighter global wheat stocks and broadly higher food prices amid wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Manitoba farmer Eric McLean had what he thought were great wheat and oats crops in his fields in August, but now a few of them are write-offs, he thinks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an adjuster coming here within the hour,\u201d said McLean. Crop insurance will cover some of his losses, he hopes. Fields he managed to harvest in early September between rains produced good crops, but those left out suffered.<\/p>\n
Canada is the world\u2019s biggest exporter of durum wheat used in pasta, of canola, used as vegetable oil, and for pulse crops like lentils, which are mainstay food crops in India and the Middle East. Its spring wheat crop is valued by global bread-makers. Canola is less impacted by rain damage due to its hard shell.<\/p>\n
Official government and industry estimates reflecting the damage won\u2019t come until mid-November.<\/p>\n
But Reuters visited the Canadian Grain Commission\u2019s headquarters in Winnipeg and found inspectors poring through examples of spring wheat that had suffered sprouting, likely making that crop unworthy of a food grade, and of red lentils that had been bleached and suffered shriveling from the September rains.<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan, the top wheat growing province, saw over three times normal precipitation in its main growing areas, leaving farmers struggling to find any days on which it was dry enough to harvest crops.<\/p>\n
The late rains add to the challenges some crops had with early summer rainfall, which caused fungal disease outbreaks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had some very heavy late-season rainfall,\u201d said agricultural weather expert Eric Snodgrass, a senior science fellow with Nutrien Ag Solutions, which advises farmers on crop production.<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan farmer Cory Loessin was relieved to have just finished harvesting on Oct. 7. He\u2019s now spending on propane to dry down the wet wheat he harvested, which he normally doesn\u2019t have to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re drying 90 per cent of the wheat crop we harvested,\u201d said Loessin. Usually it\u2019s about 10 per cent.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Ed White; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Nick Zieminski)<\/p>\n
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