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Early intense heat impacting crops

Jul 17, 2017 | 6:04 AM

LETHBRIDGE — While sun worshippers are basking in the added increased temperatures, there are those who would prefer to see the temperatures moderate a bit.

A research scientist at Agriculture Canada in Lethbridge confirms the intense heat has arrived earlier than normal for southern Alberta, which has prompted concerns of earlier onset of terminal drought.  However there is a more immediate issue for spring planted crops, which are in flowering stage.

Brian Beres said canola or cereal crops in the flowering stage are extremely vulnerable, because they are at their peak water use stage.

“You can see it in some fields to the south, which were planted earlier, are actually in a better state right now, because they’ve completed flowering,” Beres said. “There’s opportunity to learn from situations like this, with respect to the importance of getting that crop in early, and doing those practices at the farm level that really achieve a very, very uniform crop. So that shortens down the flowering period, and if those things are done right, you can see that those crops will withstand the effects a lot longer than one that’s not.”

Beres said we are experiencing heat not only for a longer duration, but more intense than it’s been in some time.

“It’s been a while, frankly, since we would see drastic differences between what we would find on an irrigated farm versus a dry land farm, because we’ve had really good timely rain,” he explained. “But this year is shaping up to be a year where those crops under irrigation are going to be in a lot more favourable position than those that are under rain-fed or dry land conditions.”

At this point, Beres believes farmers will be the most concerned with canola, which provides higher overall net returns than some of the cereal crops.

“Canola is the most vulnerable when it is in the flowering stage and, unfortunately, this dry cycle hit at exactly the time that a lot of those canola fields were in full flower, and that’s not a good thing for the chances of that plant achieving optimal pod set, which translates into optimal seed set.” Beres added it’s tough to manage after the fact.

“It’s one of those things where, as part of your cropping strategy and on-farm practices that you adopt on an annual basis — it’s just one of those things that you want to be thinking about and buffering yourself against, through those practices that will mitigate against it, if we experience conditions like this.”

However, Beres doesn’t think we’re in at a state to push the panic button just yet. He said dry land conditions will raise the protein levels of wheat crops and improve quality. He’s more concerned about the seed set and yield reductions.