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After a tough start, producers are getting their crops off around the region

Oct 22, 2018 | 2:00 PM

With October nearly over, it’s crunch time for farmers getting their crops off and in the bin.

Last week, the crop report was not in the northwest region’s favour. With a delay caused by the early moisture, producers were estimated at 45 per cent in the region.

That’s not the case for Trevor Hagen, who farms just 10 miles east on Highway 40. He took his last rounds last night, but he said it was still a struggle.

“It was a battle with the weather. Overall, the yields were good,” he said. “We would have been done, usually, around mid-September.”

Hagen only farms around 2,100 acres, but he knows how bad this harvest was.

“This was probably the worst (harvest) I’ve ever had to deal with,” he said. “Basically we needed to get better drying systems to get the grain home. We only had about two days of dry grain all year. Everything was taken off tough off the field.”

Provincially, 82 per cent of the crop is now in the bin, according to the latest crop report.

Hagen farms a couple different varieties of canola and a few different varieties of wheat. With the delay that harvest had on the farming community, it will push back some of the planning for the 2019 season.

“Basically now it puts us behind for spring,” he said. “A lot of the work that we get done before the warmer days of September, we have a shorter window now. A lot of guys are really behind on their harrowing, their fertilizing, and their broadcasting fertilizer for next year. The bigger guys are just trying to get out of the field. They’ve got a lot of acres to cover before next year to get prepped for the next year.”

When looking around his area, Hagen mentioned that his neighbour farms around 12,000 acres, and he will also be done today at some point. With most of his family and friends also being done harvest, it signals a wrap on one of the most trying harvests in recent memory, not only in the region, but the province as a whole.

For those who haven’t been able to get everything off, warm weather is still in the forecast. This next week is predicted to be sunny and double-digits to low teens, which is above the seasonal average of eight degrees Celsius.

 

brady.lang@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @BradyLangCJNB