Friday Crop Report – October 30, 2026
Harvest is essentially done across most of the province at about 98%. A little snow might melt and give a few more days of combining, but we’re into late October and the sun is weak. November is right around the corner, so any remaining windows will be short and hit-or-miss.
Grades and overall picture
HRS and durum both took a grade hit from the wet September. If you have good quality, shop it around carefully. There will be a lot of “shooting fish in a barrel” this winter with limited high-quality tonnes available, and the usual marketing BS will be thick. Overall yields for 2026 look average.
By crop
• Barley: Early-harvested barley is excellent. Later barley has more issues, and anything that was swathed really late is in poor shape. Overall average.
• Oats: Early oats came off lighter. Later oats are better, though swathed oats may grade lower than standing. Winds also shelled some.
• Flax: Average at best. The best part of July wasn’t kind to it.
• Peas: Peas don’t like wet feet, and June wasn’t great once disease showed up. It’s a crash-and-burn crop once disease gets going. Really wet fields ran below average.
• Lentils: Same story as peas — they don’t like wet conditions, and we had wet in June and again in the fall. Average to below average.
• Canary: Looked good earlier in the season, but fall rains twisted and took some. Average to just above average.
• Canola: Acres were up in the south as guys planted more in case of drought again (crop insurance pays better). June rains looked like they were going to make a bumper, then the July heat turned the tap off. North had trouble seeding early but managed to mud it in. Canola is a strange crop — it seems to have its own brain. It knows it has to produce, so it stays shorter, flowers fast, and makes seed. Overall an average to just below average crop.
The StatsCan AI on-farm stocks report is bullshit. At close to $20, if you have it you sell it — you don’t store it. The AI doesn’t see that. The crash is happening now.
That’s the summary. If I missed something or got anything wrong, tell me why.
Livestock guys have lots of feed this year. Maybe cattle numbers on farm will start to creep up.
Friday cocktail starts in November, maybe. I might still head south of the line to help with some corn harvest.
Harvest is essentially done across most of the province at about 98%. A little snow might melt and give a few more days of combining, but we’re into late October and the sun is weak. November is right around the corner, so any remaining windows will be short and hit-or-miss.
Grades and overall picture
HRS and durum both took a grade hit from the wet September. If you have good quality, shop it around carefully. There will be a lot of “shooting fish in a barrel” this winter with limited high-quality tonnes available, and the usual marketing BS will be thick. Overall yields for 2026 look average.
By crop
• Barley: Early-harvested barley is excellent. Later barley has more issues, and anything that was swathed really late is in poor shape. Overall average.
• Oats: Early oats came off lighter. Later oats are better, though swathed oats may grade lower than standing. Winds also shelled some.
• Flax: Average at best. The best part of July wasn’t kind to it.
• Peas: Peas don’t like wet feet, and June wasn’t great once disease showed up. It’s a crash-and-burn crop once disease gets going. Really wet fields ran below average.
• Lentils: Same story as peas — they don’t like wet conditions, and we had wet in June and again in the fall. Average to below average.
• Canary: Looked good earlier in the season, but fall rains twisted and took some. Average to just above average.
• Canola: Acres were up in the south as guys planted more in case of drought again (crop insurance pays better). June rains looked like they were going to make a bumper, then the July heat turned the tap off. North had trouble seeding early but managed to mud it in. Canola is a strange crop — it seems to have its own brain. It knows it has to produce, so it stays shorter, flowers fast, and makes seed. Overall an average to just below average crop.
The StatsCan AI on-farm stocks report is bullshit. At close to $20, if you have it you sell it — you don’t store it. The AI doesn’t see that. The crash is happening now.
That’s the summary. If I missed something or got anything wrong, tell me why.
Livestock guys have lots of feed this year. Maybe cattle numbers on farm will start to creep up.
Friday cocktail starts in November, maybe. I might still head south of the line to help with some corn harvest.
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