Harvest delayed and prices affected by wet September in Alberta

Farmers in Alberta could take a hit on their bottom line due to harvest delays brought on by a wet September.

The province says central Alberta is seeing some of the longest delays compared with last year's harvest.

Farmers say these wet weather delays can affect crop quality and farm revenue, but Cochrane-area farmer Greg Hawkwood says it isn't all bad news. He says the rain helps green up some dried-out pastures for cattle and boosts soil moisture after another dry summer.

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"The grain guys, this is really hard on them because their crops are standing, they've got it in swathes," he said.

"They've got moisture now, so now it's affecting grade.And as the grade goes down, of course your price goes down, but a lot of them that I've been talking to say, you know, it may go down but we are so dry we need the subsoil moisture so we can have something for next year."

Humphrey Banack with the Alberta Federation of Agriculture says wet weather delays can affect crop quality and farm revenue.

"Whether it puts us into the red or minimizes the black, that's going to depend exactly on yields and prices and quality," he said.

He says farmers will be hoping to get enough dry weather before the end of October to get their crops off the fields.

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With files from Dave Gilson.