August Canadian Foodgrains Update – Alberta
As our days get shorter, crops are ripening and harvests have begun. From what looked like a dire and dry year in the early spring to what now looks like mostly good to excellent yields ... I'm very thankful.
A woman in Cleardale asked what a good crop of wheat was when I grew up. For my dad in Saskatchewan, 30-40 (bushels per acres) was a bumper crop and 50 was a rare celebration; her sons were getting 100 on dryland wheat this August.
A month ago, crops were ripening, but no harvests were on the calendars yet. And now, they’re piling up. So far, Linden/Acme (silage), Vauxhaull (barley), Medicine Hat (wheat), Westfield (just north of Foremost, barley), Coaldale (barley), Taber (barley), and Bear Lake (west of GO, wheat). And they look like great yields in every field I’ve seen.
Coming up quickly are Picture Butte, Granum, Newell (near Duchess), Fort Saskatchewan (Grow Hope with MCC), Neerlandia, Linden Fall Supper, and some are planning into October.
So far, only two have had to changes dates because of rain. Yield so far have ranged from 27 bushels on dryland wheat to 165 bushels on irrigated barley.
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On August 31 at the Bear Lake opening, the local MLA Ron Wiebe spoke briefly. He recalled having travelled to Kenya a few years ago (I was with him on that MCC learning tour) during a drought period and at a location a couple of hours from Nairobi. He said he saw bags of food supplies for distribution with “Canadian Foodgrains Bank” stamped onto the bags. The work we do here, he said, matter, both here and in many other places.
So, as always, and never too often, thank you to everyone for the witness you are to communities all over Alberta and the hope you bring to people in places like Kenya, Gaza, Ethiopia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Haiti, Ukraine, Lebanon, and many more.
– Abe
