Alberta Crop Report as of October 10, 2023

Crop Report, provided by the Government of Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, as of October 10, 2023:

Dry and warm conditions all week assisted harvest progress (See Table 1) and as of October 10, harvest of major crops is now 94 per cent complete across the province, 13 per cent ahead of the 5-year average and up 6 per cent from last week. While the North West Region, still has the most left to combine, it progressed 16 per cent since October 3, to 86 per cent complete. The Central, North East and Peace Regions are all within 8 per cent of completion as well, with the South virtually complete.

Provincial pasture conditions have been reported as 43 per cent poor, 40 per cent fair, 17 per cent good and 0 per cent excellent. This means that many ranchers have been putting cattle out on harvested fields and feed reserves will be very important over winter. Provincial forage reserves for the 2023-2024 winter are estimated at 10 per cent deficit, 21 per cent shortfall, 66 per cent adequate and 4 per cent surplus. Feed grain reserves are estimated at 6 per cent deficit, 15 per cent shortfall, 69 per cent adequate and 10 per cent surplus. Hay supply is estimated at 11 per cent deficit, 18 per cent shortfall, 65 per cent adequate and 6 per cent surplus.

While dry conditions helped harvest progress over the week, soil moisture conditions lack the needed precipitation to support fall seeded crops. The majority of the southern half of the province received no showers over the last week while the North West and North East Region received up to 5 mm. Surface soil moisture conditions (5-year average in brackets) are rated 29 (20) per cent poor, 37 (26) per cent fair, 27 (40) per cent good, 7 (13) per cent excellent and 1 (2) per cent excessive (See Table 2). The poorest surface soil moisture conditions are seen in the South and Central Regions, while the most excessive conditions are in the North West Region. Sub-surface soil moisture conditions (5-year average in brackets) is rated 36 (23) per cent poor, 33 (28) per cent fair, 26 (35) per cent good, 6 (13) excellent and 0 (1) excessive.

Region Five: Peace (Fairview, Falher, Grande Prairie, Valleyview)

• Harvest in the Peace Region progressed 5 per cent last week and is now 95 per cent complete. This is 22 per cent ahead of the 5-year average.
• In the Peace, forage reserves and feed grain reserves for the 2023-2024 winter are estimated to be 78 and 92 per cent adequate to surplus, respectively. However, 61 per cent of hay quality is considered to be poor to fair.
• Pasture growth conditions are rated as 26 per cent poor, 43 per cent fair, 30 per cent good and 2 per cent excellent.
• Surface soil moisture rated good to excellent decreased 2 per cent to 62 per cent.

To read the full report on all regions head to their website: https://open.alberta.ca/publications/2830245