snow cover Archives

Leaving taller standing stubble in a field increases its aerodynamic roughness heading into later fall and winter.

Retain your rain

Farmers can get creative to manage water efficiency on Prairie fields

By Don Norman January 30, 2025

Growers often dismiss the unpredictability of precipitation as pure luck — but they can stack the odds in their favour with the right strategies. “There’s a lot of different dynamics going on with the water balance in the Prairies,” says Phillip Harder, research director and hydrologist at Croptimistic Technologies. In addition to summer rains during […] Read more

A drone image, taken by Dr. Philip Harder, then with the University of Saskatchewan’s Centre for Hydrology, shows the test field in February 2023 with different amounts of snow trapped by different stubble heights.

Crops, Features, Weather

Stubble height can make yield difference

Under extremely dry growing conditions, do your best to manage the moisture that’s there

By Lee Hart July 12, 2024

You may not think leaving stubble just a bit taller would make much of a difference — but field scale research in Saskatchewan is showing even two more inches of stubble height, for example, can trap snow that could translate into about $40 or more per acre in extra yield. That’s not just wishful thinking, […] Read more

Some winterkill in winter wheat doesn’t necessarily mean the surviving crop is unsaleable

Crops, Features, Weather, Winter Wheat

Conditions ripe for winter cereal wreck

Snow cover decline, temperature flux, pooling, freezing all potential problems

By Jeff Melchior April 17, 2024

Glacier FarmMedia — Minimal snow cover, frigid temperatures in mid-January and above-average temperatures after that may have set the stage for winterkill in winter crops. The risk is high enough to cause concern among crop specialists. “The eastern Prairies are in a little bit better shape than (Saskatchewan and Alberta) but there’s huge swaths that […] Read more

File photo of snowmelt on a gravel road. (PBouman/iStock/Getty Images)

Weather

Below-normal spring runoff for most of Saskatchewan

By GFM Network News March 12, 2024

Most of Saskatchewan will experience below-normal to well below-normal levels of runoff in 2024, according to the provincial Water Security Agency's Spring Runoff Forecast for 2024, released March 12.

Photo: Zbynek Pospisil/iStock/Getty Images

Weather

Precipitation does little for Prairie drought relief

Most areas dryer than a year ago, drought monitor shows

By GFM Network News March 11, 2024

While much of the Prairies received above-normal amounts of precipitation during the month of February, the additional moisture did little to alleviate dry conditions according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Canadian Drought Monitor (CDM).

A climate change activist plays a violin in New York City’s Times Square as Manhattan is shrouded in haze and smoke which drifted south from wildfires in Canada, on June 7, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Maye-E Wong)

General, Reuters, Weather

Climate change made Quebec wildfires twice as likely, scientists say

Early snow disappearance led to earlier fires

By GFM Network News August 22, 2023

London | Reuters — The fires that tore through the province of Quebec between May and July were made at least twice as likely by climate change, scientists said on Tuesday. Climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, also made the fires as much as 50 per cent more intense, according to the […] Read more

File photo of a southern Alberta field as spring approaches. (BrendanHunter/iStock/Getty Images)

Crops, Weather

Prairie soil moisture picture growing clearer

Alberta driest; Saskatchewan variable; Manitoba mostly OK

By GFM Network News April 18, 2023

It’s a variable soil moisture picture on the Prairies as seeding season draws nearer. The east has enough moisture — and in some cases too much. And it gets progressively drier toward the west, with portions of Alberta nearing critical condition, according to one weather watcher. Bruce Burnett, weather and markets director for the MarketsFarm […] Read more

Standing corn north of St. Adolphe, Man. on Sept. 19, 2021. (Dave Bedard photo)

Barley, Corn, Crops, Markets

Feed weekly outlook: Corn prices steady, growers watch weather

By GFM Network News March 31, 2022

MarketsFarm — Days after a work stoppage at Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) came to an abrupt end, prices for corn have been relatively stable, according to one trader. Mike Fleischhauer of Eagle Commodities Ltd. in Lethbridge said there has been little price movement for the feed grain staple recently as most feedlots are already set […] Read more

Sea surface temperature anomalies (in degrees Celsius) over the equatorial Pacific for the week centred on Feb. 21. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

Crops, Weather

Spring outlook cooler for Prairies, warmer for Ontario

By Grainews Staff, GFM Network News February 27, 2018

Growers in parts of Ontario may get an early start on planting this spring, while Prairie fields may see lingering snow and later-than-average last frosts. WeatherFarm’s spring forecast, powered by U.S.-based DTN Progressive Farmer, projects a cold start to the spring as likely for the western half of Canada, reversing the milder conditions shown over […] Read more

Mature winter wheat. (Allan Dawson photo)

Crops, Weather, Winter Wheat

Prairie winter wheat conditions no cause for alarm, yet

By GFM Network News February 13, 2018

CNS Canada — While it’s been a cold winter with little snow cover, there is still hope for the Prairies’ winter wheat crop as soil temperatures haven’t hit danger levels yet. “I checked the soil temperatures this morning across the Prairies and most of the soils are about -10 C and winter wheat at this […] Read more

U.S. livestock: Cattle markets up ahead of report

U.S. grains: Soybean futures fall after Trump-Xi call

Prairie Wheat Weekly: Western Canadian bids slightly decline

GFM Network News