By Ed White
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) -Canada’s durum crop has been damaged from rainy, damp conditions, with some farmers holding off on harvesting crops in the hopes of drier weather, according to the country’s grain quality agency. Mildew and sprouting damage has appeared in some early crop samples arriving at the Canadian Grain Commission, inspectors said to reporters at its headquarters on Friday. CGC grain inspector Chris Fleury said that durum wheat appears to be particularly affected by the wet conditions.
Sprouting in durum wheat kernels lowers the quality of the grain for pasta and couscous makers, who are major customers in North America, Italy and North Africa. Mildew can also lower quality.
More than half of the world’s durum exports come from Canada.
Statistics Canada on September 17 predicted a Canadian durum crop of 6.53 million metric tons, which would be the largest since 2020’s 6.57 million.
“We almost had perfect harvest conditions” since 2020 until this year, Fleury said.
Late season rainfall has boosted production but may have impacted quality.Dry summers from 2020 through 2024 have resulted in smaller crops, with 2021’s 3 million tons the smallest since 2010. However, dry conditions have also meant a high quality crop, with limited damage from the wetness that can result in sprouting and mildew.
Thousands of farmer-supplied samples of crops have started arriving at the Canadian Grain Commission, which analyzes the quality of Canada’s major crops. It is early in that process and will take weeks to get a full sense of what is coming off prairie fields.
While about two-thirds of the prairies have not had major harvest delays due to rain, farmers in areas including southeastern Saskatchewan, which produce millions of tons of cereal grains like spring wheat, durum, oats and barley, have often had to postpone harvesting their crops in September, hoping drier weather will soak up some of the wetness in the crop. Spring wheat in eastern Saskatchewan and most of Manitoba could also be affected by the damp conditions, Fleury said.
Millions of acres of crops on the eastern third of the prairies are still standing uncut or lying in swaths due to frequent rains from late August through September.
(Reporting by Ed WhiteEditing by Marguerita Choy)
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