Friday Crop Report on a Thursday!

[Sheepwheat]

Went to Humboldt yesterday. From a few miles west of here, all the way to Humboldt, 70 miles away, is poor and worse. The VERY odd exception. One field of canola on summerfallow does stick out. Maybe gramps and dad were onto something?

I would guess the yields to be:

Canola zero to 25 max. Crop literally shrunk away lots of spindly, single branches etc.
Wheat 15 to 30 max. 30 looking fields few and far between
Barley 0 to 40 max. More at the low end than high end
Oats 10 to 50 max. This may need revision as who knows if it will fill.

This is a black soils area that is generally very productive year in year out. Crops went backwards from ten days ago when I was last that way. I left home it was 28 degrees and extremely humid. Got to Humboldt it was 36 degrees. Came home it was 29.

What saves us in our little zone sure seems to be humidity and cooler temps. Highest temp I saw here was 32 this summer.

[fcr]

Crop insurance estimate on barley here anywhere from 6 to 22 bu/ac. Most going down now for feed. As sf said this year is over. 2 1/2 inches all year. In 1988 we had close to 5 inches and grew a decent crop Much better than this year

[SASKFARMER]

1988 we pulled off a good crop south and west of us nothing this is our worst since 1961.

Missed the rain by 5 miles

[Blaithin]

Heading out to Moose Jaw and south this weekend. See how it compares along the way to this area.

Around home is not horrid, but the frequent drive out to Halkirk.... the farther east the worse it gets.

[Partners]

I think in 88 we got 15 b/a .wht..
Swathed ahead of combines, before it fell through stubble.

[GDR]

Along highway #2 from north of Olds to Edmonton looks really good. Average to above, some really excellent looking crops (albeit from the truck). Grass is green in the ditch and puddles along the way so it’s likely to fill well.

Yep been watching all the showers miss us and head to Innisfail, Red Deer, Lacombe all year, they are still drier than normal but good crops.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Along highway #2 from north of Olds to Edmonton looks really good. Average to above, some really excellent looking crops (albeit from the truck). Grass is green in the ditch and puddles along the way so it’s likely to fill well.

I can't complain at all about our situation, very grateful. But it is amazing how much the rain has varied even within a few miles. Here in the swamp, We have never had enough moisture this to drown out anything ( except a minor area from beavers). But starting just 5 miles east of here, there are drown outs all over, and it extends all the way to highway 2 from what I've seen. Even in some of the really dry areas with poor crops there was damage from excess water at some point this year.

When we recieved 1.75 in the beginning of July, 5 miles NE they got 3.2, and it really shows, yellow barley, big puddles that lasted for weeks.

Was glad to miss a rain on Thursday, we got a very brief hard shower, hardly enough to register in the gauge ( but still hard enough to lodge a bunch of barley) but north of us it dropped a bunch of hail. I'll take dry over hail any day.

[chuckChuck]

By subsidies do you mean G.R.I.P?
Or supply management?
Or the Crow rate?
$/ac in hand or expense subsidies?

Or do you mean the cash accounting allowed to farmers and fisherman?
Capital gains exemptions?
I can tell you right now taxpayers are increasingly eyeing your equity and adding it up.
It wont be drought that keeps your progeny off the farm. It will be the increasing tax on any retained value in assets, real or perceived.
Keep selling the diversion Chuck.
And be a good boy, do your part so Bombardier can stay "in business".

So taxes are your biggest worry on the farm? That's a laugh in a year when many farms will see their drought reduced gross income decline by 50% and wont even be able to cover their expenses. How much tax do you pay on zero net income or a loss?

Many of the medium to large crop farms are on average doing very well and are some of the best off people in our communities with significant assets to pass on to the next generation. Sure if they make some money they are going to pay some tax. But the small business tax rate is very attractive. In Saskatchewan you currently pay 0% provincially and 9% federally up to $600,000 in net income.

That is a pretty generous tax break to encourage small businesses to reinvest and grow. Not all farms are prospering, but many are and are doing nicely and will have a tidy sum well beyond the average worker to retire on, with some of the growth coming because of the low small business tax rates.

[seldomseen]

We went on a bit of a road trip also this weekend.
Starting north of Tisdale through Saskatoon and then west as far as Meota. Then angled south west all the way to Calgary.
Small pockets of the best canola looked like it might make 30 and that was around Meota and southwest of Battleford towards Unity. Huge areas with canola that is blasted in both Saskatchewan and Alberta might range from 0-15 with some of the worst in the Saskatoon area. No pastures looked decent and really no green grass anywhere.

One thing that did stand out on this trip is how clean and neat all the fields looked. I hardly saw any wild oats or thistle in any fields anywhere. A little kochia around Saskatoon in the worst drought areas.
Fertility looked really good in all areas also. The crop is short from lack of rain but nothing looked deficient from lack of fertilizer.
From what I saw farmers did an excellent job on a very difficult year.

[Blaithin]

So far best crops are still probably around Trochu. Cross the river up to Halkirk and it starts going to shit. Down to Hanna and there’s a green bubble in that area that looks alright.

Head east and between Cactus Corner and Youngstown it goes back down the pooper. Burnt, short, crunchy. Then it got dark.

This morning around Leader and towards Swift Current it’s green, which is more than eastern Alberta has going for it. The ditches don’t look like death. Pastures are similar to home, anything with a hoof in it is done. Crops mostly vary between looking ok driving past and looking thin. Think this is mainly because a lot of the barley in Alberta has been traded off for lentils here. The lentils are looking healthier than the tortured barley is. Not sure I’ve seen a canola crop since hitting Sask that is better than even the shittiest ones I’ve seen in Alberta.

Kochia looks good. Never seen so much of it in my life.

[seldomseen]

So taxes are your biggest worry on the farm? That's a laugh in a year when many farms will see their drought reduced gross income decline by 50% and wont even be able to cover their expenses. How much tax do you pay on zero net income or a loss?

Many of the medium to large crop farms are on average doing very well and are some of the best off people in our communities with significant assets to pass on to the next generation. Sure if they make some money they are going to pay some tax. But the small business tax rate is very attractive. In Saskatchewan you currently pay 0% provincially and 9% federally up to $600,000 in net income.

That is a pretty generous tax break to encourage small businesses to reinvest and grow. Not all farms are prospering, but many are and are doing nicely and will have a tidy sum well beyond the average worker to retire on, with some of the growth coming because of the low small business tax rates.

Income tax is not the only tax farms pay. We pay gst,pst, carbon tax on almost everything we buy and use and then there is land tax that we pay even if there is no income from the land. Farms will be paying lots even if we have no income!

[TOM4CWB]

We went on a bit of a road trip also this weekend.
Starting north of Tisdale through Saskatoon and then west as far as Meota. Then angled south west all the way to Calgary.
Small pockets of the best canola looked like it might make 30 and that was around Meota and southwest of Battleford towards Unity. Huge areas with canola that is blasted in both Saskatchewan and Alberta might range from 0-15 with some of the worst in the Saskatoon area. No pastures looked decent and really no green grass anywhere.

One thing that did stand out on this trip is how clean and neat all the fields looked. I hardly saw any wild oats or thistle in any fields anywhere. A little kochia around Saskatoon in the worst drought areas.
Fertility looked really good in all areas also. The crop is short from lack of rain but nothing looked deficient from lack of fertilizer.
From what I saw farmers did an excellent job on a very difficult year.

I went Hwy 13 to Hardisty then south to Coronation, to Castor and back up 36 to Hwy 13.

Average looks like 40% of normal yields my guess. Preharvest on wheat has started. One pea field done… most 1’ or shorter.

Nasty hail through Alliance with 100% fields that smelled like fresh cut hay.

80% of crops not up to knees.
Cheers