Harvest 2021 Full of Challenges

Harvest 2021 Full of Challenges

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

The sky was heavily laden with grey clouds and the hope was for the rain to hold off.

Noah Baxandall was busy combining red spring wheat on 120 acre field six miles south of Vegreville on August 31.

He said they lost sometime with a breakdown a couple of days ago and 10 mm of rain was forecast for the following day. The bright side was that sun and warmer temperatures were forecast after that.

Noah Baxandall offloading grain.

(Michelle Pinon/Photo)

Noah, who farms with his dad Al, have about 2,000 acres to harvest which had just gotten underway.

Al said he’s heard wheat yields are below average and barley yields are poor, but hadn’t heard anything about canola that is usually harvested a bit later. Noah said they also put in faba beans, which are planted first and harvested last. The quality of crops and how much they will yield varies, and producers won’t really know what the final product will be until it’s in the bin. Even though yields are down, prices are rising, and that could possibly help out some producers in the region in the long run.