It is harvest time in Manitoba, central Canada, and early results show competitive yields for especially winter wheat and rye.
The harvest of general crops had by August 19, 2024 yielded 3% of the province’s total fall output.
Winter wheat, for one, is showing good yield rates of 80 to 110 bushels (bu) an acre in the central and eastern regions.
This early regional estimate indicates an improvement from the 2022 provincial average of 65 bu per acre.
By August 21, about 60% of the winter grain harvest was complete, while spring wheat was already 3% complete.
So far, the spring wheat quality is 85% good-to-excellent in the central area. Following suit is the northwest at 80% and the Great Lakes region near the capital, Winnipeg, at 70%.
Spring wheat in Manitoba has a short harvest window as it is usually ready by August after April planting. Its winter counterpart, on the other hand, stays months under snow before it sprouts the next spring.
Rye Harvest Almost Over
Another crop with good yields is rye, 72% of whose harvest total was over by August 21.
Early estimates put yields at 40 to 110 bu an acre, versus an annual average of 70 to 90 bu/acre.
The central area is returning above-average yields of 80 to 110 bu/acre while eastern area has 75 bu/acre.
Other Crops
On top of the two grains, barley and peas are also in earnest harvest, while corn is silking. Sunflowers are flowering, soybeans podding and canola is ready for harvesting.
The field pea yield was by week three of August in the 30-55 bu per acre range, for Manitoba’s central area.
Corn was in the week starting August 19 in either the silking (R1) stage or R3 (milk-formation) stage. So were sunflowers either in the flower-formation (R4) stage or seed budding (R6) stage. Soybeans in their part are just about to pod (R4 stage) or are in seeding (R6 stage).
Thus, as Manitoba’s fall harvest gets under way, early indicators show good returns for wheat and rye. To learn more about the place of winter wheat in Manitoba and Canada as a whole, below are extra stats.
Canada Winter Wheat Statistics
Winter wheat production in Canada is minor in comparison with spring wheat, but it ranks 10th in national crop output. In 2022, the winter crop accounted for only 8% of the total wheat crop in Canada of 33.8 million tonnes. According to Statistics Canada, three provinces produced 74.4% of nationwide hard and soft winter wheat. These were Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Manitoba in its part produced 16.1% of the total wheat output (spring and winter) in Canada in 2022. According to the provincial government, the all-wheat average yield here is 58.1 bushels an acre, for 2022.
How much acreage is under winter wheat versus spring wheat in Canada?
Canada’s winter wheat area has been unsteady between 2021 and 2024, even as spring wheat acreage has shown steady increment. In 2021, the winter wheat area was 1,503,745 acres, which increased in 2022 to 1,177,400 acres. It then fell in 2023 to 1,423,600 acres and reduced further in 2024 to 1,340,700 acres. This is even as spring wheat increased steadily till 2023, to 19,474,600 acres.
What is the wheat acreage in Manitoba?
Opposite to the national acreage curve, the Manitoba winter wheat area has been increasing exponentially. In 2020 it was just 32,000 acres but by 2023 had more than doubled to 77,400 acres, per the Manitoba Cooperator. But this is still a fraction of the province’s spring wheat’s 3 million acres in 2022.