The current reporting period covers the harvest of summer crops, including maize and soybean, as well as the sowing and early growth of winter wheat in Canada. Situation of summer crops was reported in last bulletins, so that the following section focuses on crop condition of winter crops. In general, below average crop conditions were observed for the Prairies, while average conditions prevailed for the Saint Lawrence basin.

The agro-climatic conditions were dominated by the snow and cold weather in this monitoring period. All the agro-climatic indicators were more or less below average (RAIN -3%, TEMP -0.4°C, RADPAR -1%), which was unfavorable to the replenishment of soil moisture of winter wheat and led to the drop of the potential biomass (-5%). In the Prairies region, Alberta (-5%) and Saskatchewan (-19%) suffered from the shortage of precipitation. This led to a drop in potential biomass (Alberta -8%, Saskatchewan -7%). In Manitoba, precipitation was above average (+9%), but its potential biomass was 22% lower than the average, due to a low RADPAR (-12%). The negative departure of NDVI confirmed the negative impact of the agro-climatic conditions on wheat growth in the Prairies. The agro-climatic conditions indicated a relatively poor start of winter crops in the Canadian Prairies, while in the Saint Lawrence basin, conditions were more favorable.

Regional analysis

The Prairies (area identified as 53 in the NDVI clustering map) and Saint Lawrence basin (49, covering Ontario and Quebec) are the major agricultural regions.

In the Prairies, the main food production area in Canada, the agro-climatic indicators were below average (RAIN -7%, TEMP -0.8°C, RADPAR -4%). Attributed to the shortage of precipitation of Alberta and Saskatchewan and serious deficit of RADPAR in Manitoba, the potential biomass was below average (BIOMSS -11%).

In the Saint Lawrence basin region, the agro-climatic indicators are mostly average, which resulted in average potential biomass.

Canada’s crop condition, October 2019 - January 2020.

(a) Phenology of major crops

(b) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI       (c) Maximum VCI

(d) Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA                         (e) NDVI profiles

(f) Rainfall time series                                                          (g) Temperature time series

(h) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI (Canadian Prairies region (left) and Saint Lawrence basin region (right))

Canada’s agroclimatic indicators by sub‐national regions, current season's values and departure from 15YA, October2019 – January 2020

Canada’s agronomic indicators by sub‐national regions, current season's values and departure from 15YA or 5YA, October 2019 –January 2020