The race to the harvest season finish line continues across the Peace Region, as area farmers rush not only to reap the fields they've sown, but the benefits of a bumper crop season being forecast across Canada.
According to Statistics Canada, farmers across the country are expected to produce incredible yields, particularly with wheat, barley and canola. The national agency is forecasting Canadian farmers to harvest some 30.6 million tonnes of wheat, 14.7 million tonnes of canola and 8.9 million tonnes of barley.
"If you're reading the papers, there are good crop reports straight across the prairies," said Irmie Critcher, who farms just south of Taylor, between the Kiskatinaw and Peace rivers. "We're right in line with those forecasts for above-average crops."
According to the B.C. Grain Producers Association (BCGPA), farmers in the South Peace are between 60 to 70 per cent finished with this year's harvest, while North Peace farmers are only about halfway through.
"There's still lots to go," Clair Langlois, the association's research manager, told the Alaska Highway News late last week.
Critcher said she's expecting canola to be her top crop this year.
"We've had an exceptional amount of rain (this year) that drowned out crops in part of our fields, but made for excellent fields in other parts," said Critcher, who also grows wheat, barley and oats.
North Peace MLA and Minister of Agriculture Pat Pimm said a bountiful harvest has far-reaching effects in the community.
"It's always great when the farming community is doing well, because everyone is doing well," Pimm said. "Vehicle dealerships are doing well, grocery stores are doing well, as the farmers certainly spread their revenues back into the community."
However, heavy rains likely ruined the returns Clayhurst farmer Robert Vander Linden was hoping for his canola crops this year.
"Typically, that should be my biggest returns per acre," said Vander Linden, who is also president of the BCGPA. "With so much rain, I'm hoping just to get back the costs of growing it on my farm. Other farmers are just giggling all the way to the bank."
Vander Linden noted about 15 inches of rain fell in the area this season – double the amount canola needs, he said, and double the amount that fell in other regions only a few miles away.
Farmers outside of Clayhurst and throughout the Fort St. John, Montney, Cecil Lake and Rolla regions should all be enjoying bumper yields, Vander Linden said.
Barley has been the top performer on Vander Linden's farm, and his wheat should bring an above-average yield.
"I'm always optimistic, but until its in the bin, I don't think it counts," he said. "There are people looking at the crop out in the field and sayings it's terrific, but until it's in the bin, there are a lot of other things that affect the quality of the grain."
What Peace Region farmers need now is a ton of sunshine and dry weather to finish out the harvest season, Vander Linden said, noting he can finish his own harvest in another week to 10 days with good weather.
Prices for barley are expected to remain below last year's record high, according to Stats Canada, as world coarse grain prices continue to drop and the International Grains Council forecasts a 10 per cent increase in world production of the crop.
Strong world demand should push canola exports up 7 per cent for Canadian farmers, though prices are expected to drop about $90 per tonne, or possibly as much as 20 per cent, due to lower price forecasts for U.S. soybeans and soyoil, StatsCan noted.
The high yields are good news in a growing season that got off to a late start, as many farmers in the Peace only began seeding in mid-May due to a wet and cold spring, Critcher said.
Meanwhile, farmers are shrugging off the first, and late-season, appearance of frost last week, Critcher added.
"If that would have happened three weeks ago, a lot of crops wouldn't have been ready."
Between 85 to 90 per cent of grain crops grown in B.C. come from the Peace Region, according to the province. Those crops also include oats, flax and peas.
The Federal government is forecasting Canadian farmers will harvest 2.9 million tonnes of oats this season, with prices forecast to decline amid lowered domestic demand. Farmers will harvest about 613,000 tonnes of flaxseed, and about 330 million tonnes of peas.
Langlois, BCGPA's research manager, said the organization continues to work on creating a northern adapted flax seed.
"We're coming along very well with that one, but it's taken us 10 years to grow," he said.
The BCGPA is also working with dry beans — a "southern crop that seems to be growing good up here," Langlois says — along with lentils and corn.
The BCGPA manages 8,000 research plots for its work, Langlois said.
