Agricultural News
With More Acres Planted in 2017 - Canola Harvest Already Underway in Southwestern Oklahoma
Fri, 05 May 2017 15:46:35 CDT
For some Oklahoma farmers, the 2017 canola crop harvest is already underway in Southwest Oklahoma, with some fields having been first swathed as early as the last week of April. To get the very latest on the status of this year's canola crop, Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays spoke with agronomists Heath Sanders and Josh Bushong, who cover the Southwest and Northwest areas of the state respectively. And with significantly more planted acres this year compared to last, at roughly 120,000 acres, they have indeed had a lot of ground to cover. Click or tap the LISTEN BAR below at the bottom of this story to hear Hays speak with both Sanders and Bushong about this year's canola harvest in Oklahoma.
"Most of the fields I've looked at were pretty well done flowering. We are seeing seeds firm up as this canola matures. Stuff is moving along pretty fast," Sanders said. "But that being said - with these cooler temperatures and the moisture and everything we've been receiving, has really slowed the crop process down as far as seed color change."
Warning against jumping the gun too early, as he believes often happens, Sanders encourages producers to check their crops frequently for color change of the seed, as warming temperatures arrive helping the plants mature more quickly.
"That's the important thing," he said. "Sometimes we swath stuff a little too green and we hurt our yield and quality on the canola."
Bushong says, like Sanders' region, fields he has scouted dropped their flowers very quick this year but he says he has not seen much change so far in seed color.
"Right now, it's just in there building yield," Bushong said. "Once we get some warmer days we'll probably see that change pretty fast."
Both agronomists agree, this harvest looks to be shaping up to be a fairly average crop, despite plants growing somewhat stunted. Bushong predicts growers in his area to yield 40-50 bpa in the better fields and around 15-25 bpa in thinner fields. Sanders concurs.
"I think we're looking at an average crop, really across the board in Southern Oklahoma," Sanders predicted, noting a statewide attitude of optimism around the state.
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