Crop of peas near Fairview. (Submitted photo/Erika Rolling)

By Erika Rolling

Agriculture

Alberta Barley Director calls 2022 growing season dry

Aug 17, 2022 | 5:12 PM

SPIRIT RIVER, Alta. — Predictions are pointing towards having a less than plentiful harvest this year according to Alberta Barley’s region six director, Brent Konstapel.

Konstapel farms in the Spirit River area and he said peas and barley are close to coming off.

“No swathing yet of canola, but things are turning quick here… quite dry here.”

He says recent rains aren’t helping much.

“It’ll help with some later canola, but a lot of the wheat, barley, and peas are just about ready to be combined so it won’t do anything there except help with the ground moisture.”

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Konstapel summed up the 2022 growing season as dry.

“We went well over a month without any rain. I don’t think we got any in July, so our yields will be down this year… the heat definitely hurt.”

He said his personal crops were not affected by the intense storm systems in the past month.

“Luckily we missed it, but we also missed the rain, so that wasn’t good. I heard a lot of crop was damaged from hail but I’m not sure to what extent.”

Pests were not a huge issue for Konstapel.

“We did spray for Lygus bugs in canola, and didn’t see too many of the diamondback (moths) and bertha armyworms this year.”

He noted most producers were being proactive in spraying for Lygus bugs in particular.

“Overall, I think it’s going to be a down year again. Maybe not as bad as last year, but it won’t be a bumper crop for sure.”

“I’m just hoping for a good harvest and we will see what we get off,” he added to stay positive as, “there’s always next year!”