Wheat producers are anxious about the weather for the coming week as they hope they will be able to harvest their crop before it sprouts or is hurt by other wet-weather challenges.
Russel Hurst, executive director for the Ontario Agri-Business Association, reports that:
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- Eighty per cent of the soft red wheat that has been harvested is going milling grade. Main downgrading to date has been mildew in some pockets of the province.
- Seven per cent showed signs of sprouting.
- Falling numbers are ranging from low 200's to high 300's which is fairly wide range from a milling quality standpoint.
- Am awaiting harvest sampling stats from Grain Farmers of Ontario to ground truth what we are seeing and this sample data.
- Harvesting is done on more than 95 per cent of the wheat in the deep south, 75 per cent in midwestern Ontario and just nicely started in more northern regions - i.e. 25-35 per cent.
- Yields have generally been good, variable depending on management practices and rainfall events, but not exceptional yields across the province generally.
The weather in the next five to seven days is critical.
He said via e-mail that "at this point growers should be harvesting wheat when the opportunity presents itself as quality will/is rapidly declining - i.e. test weight, increased sprouting, lower falling number.
He said there have not been many reports of fusarium contamination, but the Canadian Food inspection Agency did release a notice on yellow dwarf bunt, "which came as a bit of a surprise to us."
That was specific to Thunder Bay region. There are also some spots in British Columbia.
The CFIA is cautioning the trade that this disease could threaten Canada’s exports, so it must be kept out of the supply chain.
No wheat from these infected areas may be moved without a CFIA certificate based on lab test results.
