Ryan Kiedrowski
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The World-Spectator
Harvest is fully wrapped up across the southeast, and grain producers are saying this will be a profitable year overall despite some of the challenges thrown their way. According to the most recent provincial crop report, topsoil moisture is drying with the longer than usual fall season.
“Only the Wapella area reported rainfall this week and they only received 10 mm,” said Crops Extension Specialist Meghan Rosso of the southeast region in her report. “These dry conditions, paired with strong winds caused topsoil moisture levels to decline. Cropland topsoil moisture is now 48 per cent adequate, 45 per cent short and seven per cent very short.”
The same trend is true for hayland topsoil, which noted 45 per cent adequate, 46 per cent short, and nine per cent very short.
The final days of harvest for most producers were punctuated with late-season storms, which wreaked havoc on canola crops in particular.
“We lost 13 quarters, down to 13 bushels an acre,” said Gerald-area farmer Kevin Hruska. “But the other stuff, we had another 20 quarters left out in the wind, and it survived quite well, so that was kind of surprising, actually. But some it was battered pretty good from wind this year. So our canola was kind of poor in the end. I guess we’re lucky to have a 35 bushel per acre crop, is really what ended up happening.”
While Hruska noted his wheat was good and canola poor, securing decent pricing saved the day in the end.
“A lot of our canola we pretty much all sold at $16, $17 a bushel,” he said. “We did capitalize on that.”
Blake Duchek from the Atwater/Stockholm area illustrated how elusive it can be to secure pricing.
“Some of these contracts, you got to be locked in for a year almost,” he said. “If a guy wouldn’t have done that, you’d be out by $20 a ton, out by 50 cents a bushel.”
In fact, Duchek is considering locking in next year’s numbers already.
“It’s so hard to predict, if we should be locking some basis contracts in already for next year,” he said. “You can kind of tell, like LDC in Yorkton, once their basis level gets up to that negative 25, negative 30, that means they’re pretty much bought up and they don’t need any canola. Now, they’re showing that negative 25 out to June and July already. If you don’t start doing a basis contract and securing a delivery spot, you’re done. And then how much do you do?”
Rosso also noted the arrival of waterfowl and wildlife in general caused some damage, but being the tail-end of harvest, crop damage was minimal.
“Harvest went smooth,” said Rylar Hutchinson, who farms near Rocanville. “After those wind storms we had at the end of August, it was smoother then expected. Definitely slower picking crop off the ground, but could have been worse.”
Overall, Hutchinson called the 2024 crop “average, not great, but not terrible.”
Jeff Warkentin with Herbert Grain Ventures in Moosomin agreed, reporting a few delays due to rain events, but nothing that was significant enough to downgrade product.
“We’re very pleased with our cereals, and canola was about average,” he said. “Mother Nature kind of threw a wrench into things, but all in all, we had a pretty good fall and we got completed in good time.”
Post-harvest work in full swing
Now that the grain is off the field and moving to points around the world, producers can take advantage of the warmer fall weather to not only wrap up annual duties, but get a possible jump on spring preparations.
“The mild and dry conditions allowed lots of fieldwork to get done,” Rosso noted. “Producers were busy getting harrowing, spraying and applying fall fertilizer. Producers are hoping to receive more rain soon for anhydrous ammonia applications and to improve soil moisture conditions for next year. Livestock producers are moving cattle and preparing their livestock for market.”
Sometimes hours spent in the cab yield the most meditative moments while being productive.
“I’m in a track hole right now, just kind of blowing off some steam here and catching up on a project,” Hruska said when the World-Spectator caught up with him last week.
The tasks are never-ending, and ultimately dependant on what the weather dictates.
“Fall work never ends, you usually always get stopped by mother nature whether you want to or not,” Hutchinson said. “Perfect time to clean up fall equipment and do field work, drain sloughs, bury piles, etc.”
Warkentin noted they’re also monopolizing on the bonus days, already eyeing up the 2025 growing season.
“We’ve had a great fall. It’s allowed us to do a lot of fall work and preparation for next year,” he said. “We’re tidying up some fall work—we’re putting machinery away, and we’re hauling grain. We’re starting to plan for next year and get plans in place so we’re trying to figure all that stuff out.”
Duchek has spent the last little while ditching fields, but aside from spreading fertilizer, every day is a countdown to frost hitting the ground.
“It looks like it’s cooling off a little bit,” he said. “Next week, we’ll probably run to Tuesday, Wednesday and call it quits, because once the dirt starts freezing at night, you can’t do too much.”
