More weather surprises still to come?

It has been a whacky spring and summer for weather. While the western Prairies are suffering from drought, there continues to be too much rain in parts of Manitoba. On Sunday and Monday, areas east of Winnipeg received a huge amount of rain – as much as 5.5 inches near the community of St. Joseph. There’s standing water in the fields. Meanwhile, in parts of Alberta, there have been reports of frost in recent days. According to the Canola Watch report from the Canola Council of Canada, temperatures of minus one were reported near Beaverlodge, Leduc and Ryley on Sunday night and Monday morning. Grain traders follow weather and crop reports very closely during the growing season. The trade factors in information as it becomes available, but the way the growing season has been going, you have to wonder if there could be some major production surprises still to come. Has the true extent of the drought been factored into production estimates? Crops are late. What if there’s a widespread, earlier-than-normal killing frost? Producers are becoming reluctant to part with grain because production prospects seem very uncertain this year. I’m Kevin Hursh.

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Kevin Hursh, PAg, CAC