Brooks (Rural Roots Canada) — An Alberta-based agronomist warns of potential harvest issues due to a late seeding.

Jeremy Boychyn is the Agronomy Research Extension Specialist for Alberta Wheat Commission and Alberta Barley.

He says the late seeding has resulted in a number of issues with crops.

“We didn’t really have a nice spring to get that crop in,  we already have some late-maturing crops from the producers I have been chatting with,” Boychyn said.

“There’s some concern heading into the latter part of the season that the maturity is going to be a little bit later than we want it to, which means we are going to have some potential issues heading into that.”

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“I have heard issues of Seedpod Weevil, some Wheat Midge, Wheat Stem Sawfly these are all things that can reduce the quality of the crop and are things that you should be out there scouting for.”

Boychyn says the high moisture conditions in the spring has also created another issue.

“We’re seeing foliar disease pop-up and this can take away from your photosynthetic area which can reduce the size of your grain and quality in some aspects.”

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Boychyn says he has seen some rust in the southern part of Alberta.

“That needs to continue to be watched for because rust can move rather quickly and the threshold is rather low and there is some barley with some scald this is not an uncommon sight in the western part of Alberta.”

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