WINNIPEG -- Canada’s farmers struggled to harvest this year’s 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’s top-five world wheat exporters. 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’s harvest was 41 per cent done, compared to the five year average of 82 per cent. 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. 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. 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. “There’s an adjuster coming here within the hour,” 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. Canada is the world’s 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. Official government and industry estimates reflecting the damage won’t come until mid-November. But Reuters visited the Canadian Grain Commission’s 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. 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. The late rains add to the challenges some crops had with early summer rainfall, which caused fungal disease outbreaks. “We’ve had some very heavy late-season rainfall,” said agricultural weather expert Eric Snodgrass, a senior science fellow with Nutrien Ag Solutions, which advises farmers on crop production. Saskatchewan farmer Cory Loessin was relieved to have just finished harvesting on Oct. 7. He’s now spending on propane to dry down the wet wheat he harvested, which he normally doesn’t have to do. “We’re drying 90 per cent of the wheat crop we harvested,” said Loessin. Usually it’s about 10 per cent. (Reporting by Ed White; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Nick Zieminski)
