September 23, 2009

Light frost in parts of central and northern Alberta over the weekend likely caused some downgrading to wheat and barley, said an analyst with the Canadian Wheat Board's weather and crop-surveillance department.

But he pointed out that crops in the areas hit hardest by any frost were already in questionable shape, and the weather remains very good for the wheat and barley across the Prairies overall.

The CWB's Stuart McMillan said overnight temperatures of -2 degrees Celsius in parts of Alberta recently were low enough to cause some damage to the crops still standing, although most of the areas seeing the latest frost had already been hit the previous week.

He said wheat and barley hit by frost will be downgraded, although some of those crops were already highly variable in terms of quality. In many areas the frost didn't last that long "so most of the crops likely snuck by without a whole lot of damage," said McMillan.

Overall, the impact on the western Canadian crop was negligible, said McMillan, who noted that weather conditions remain reasonably good for most areas of the Prairies.

"The way this weather has worked out over the past three weeks was exactly what western Canadian farmers needed," said McMillan, adding that the warm temperatures "made the difference between having a sizable portion of the crop grading in the feed to number three, to seeing the proportion on number ones and twos increasing substantially."

McMillan said some wheat and barley crops in more northern regions still need at least a week and a half without any frost, which given the nearby forecasts should be likely.

"Right now the outlook is quite favourable," said McMillan.