Canada: Rains arrive at worst possible time for Canada’s malting barley harvest

After a summer of dry conditions and intense heat, which took its toll on barley yields, September arrived and unfortunately so did the rain. The long awaited moisture that would have benefitted the crops in early August has arrived at the worst possible time for the Prairie harvest. This wet weather has bogged down harvest and the forecast for the next two weeks is for continued rain, which will affect the unharvested barley. The concern is that the standing barley will be subject to chitting and sprouting, and regrettably a large percentage of the unharvested barley will probably become feed grade, CMBTC reported on September 13.

It is hard to determine at this time the exact amount of barley that has been harvested. Based on provincial crop reports and discussions with producers it is likely that about 50% of the Prairie barley has been harvested and that the quality of this barley is above average with the exception of southern Alberta. Harvesting the remaining 50% will likely be a dreadfully slow process and the maltsters and commercial companies will have to wait for it to be completed before they can evaluate samples submitted to see how much of the crop will grade malt. After the hot dry summer the hope was that harvest weather would remain dry and warm, however the rains have arrived and the harvest is basically at a standstill in all three provinces.

Alberta

• South - This area had been moisture starved all summer and persisted in drought conditions. It also had a bad harvest with yields ranging from 15 to 65 bu/ac. (Yields in this area are usually 80 to 100+ bu/ac.) The protein levels ranged from 14 to 18.5%, certainly disqualifying them from being selected for malt. This was the second consecutive year of drought conditions for this area. They could use rain now to recharge their sub soil conditions.

• Central - This section of the province has had continual rain for the past week and the forecast is that spotty rains will continue for an additional week to ten days – not encouraging weather for harvesting. Again it’s difficult to estimate how much barley has been harvested, but probably only 15-20%. The forecast of continued wet conditions and cool temperatures does not inspire hope for good malt quality barley being harvested going forward.
• North - Less than 10% of the barley in this area is harvested and more rain is in the forecast.

• The Peace River, whose barley is typically sought after for the export market, has had harvest stalled by the rains, with more moisture in the forecast (even snow). It does not appear this area will be providing malt quality barley this crop year.

Saskatchewan

Intermittent showers and, in some cases heavy rainfall, combined with some sustained frost conditions has greatly slowed down harvest progress in the province. Wet conditions are forecast for the next week to ten days which will unfortunately drag out the harvest. Cool temperatures will not aid the drying down of standing crops. On-farm drying and commercial dryers will be in high demand this fall to dry crops. Barley harvest is now over 50% complete.

The quality of the barley that has been harvested to date is variable, with protein levels varying from 11% to 14% and the odd sample registering 16.5% protein. Overall, barley that has been harvested prior to the rains indicate average to above average quality, however, only a small percentage of harvested barley has had samples submitted to maltsters and the commercial buyers at this time.

• Southwest: Swift Current - Over 70% of the barley has been harvested; cool wet weather is slowing the remaining harvest.

• West Central: Saskatoon - A large part of this area was saturated with rains over the weekend and the rain system over this area seems to be in place for the next week. Standing barley that was hit by this rain will unfortunately fall into the feed category. In the Rosetown- Biggar area barley harvest is 50% complete and the early harvested barley reports indicate the quality and the yields were average to above average.

• East-Central: Yorkton - Melville - This past week has seen damp and cool conditions which has slowed the harvest pace. Parts of this area are 50-60% harvested and barley yields have been about 80 bu/ac. The quality has been average to better than average.

• North West- North Battleford - Similar to the other regions, showers have slowed down the harvest and cool damp temperatures are not beneficial to dry down the crops that remain in the fields.

• Southeast - Weyburn, Regina - Truly a variable weather pattern covered this area with good dry harvest conditions to cool wet conditions that have slowed down the harvest.

• Northeastern: Tisdale-Melfort - Another region that had variable weather. Rains and cool temperatures have halted harvesting in some parts. There has been some reports of good yields (80+ bu/ac) on barley that was harvested before the rains.

Manitoba

According to the Manitoba provincial crop report, the barley harvest is 95% complete. Although there was a general lack of moisture in the province this summer, the early results are generally positive with many of the barley fields achieving yields of 80-100 bu/ac. Quality for most of the malting barley crop is reported to be average to above average with good plump, high germination and little or no DON, while protein levels will certainly be above average.

Summary

The delays caused by the current weather will not only drag out the harvest in Western Canada but will greatly affect the quality of any remaining barley crop in the fields. There were high expectations that this year's barley crop would be average to above average quality and that there would be ample supplies of selectable malt barley available, which could have potentially given Canada an exportable surplus of two million tonnes this crop year. Now it’s a waiting game to see how much malt barley will be available for the domestic and export market. Truly a disappointing scenario when you consider that, two weeks ago, the Prairies appeared to be on the verge of harvesting a large, high quality malt barley crop.

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