In Canada, this monitoring period from July to October covered the harvesting stages of winter wheat, barley, oats, and spring wheat, as well as the growth and harvest stages of maize and soybeans. In general, the condition of crops was above the average of the previous five year period.

The dry weather of 2015 gave way to wet weather this year. Compared to average, rainfall (RAIN) was up 23.8%, temperature (TEMP) was about normal, while sunshine (RADPAR) exhibited a 6% negative departure. Abundant rainfall was recorded in Alberta (+50%), Manitoba (+73%), and Saskatchewan (+66%), benefiting greatly the growth of wheat and other crops. While close to normal rainfall fell in the maize producing provinces, including Ontario (+5%) and Quebec (-4%), moderate to severe droughts were recorded in July to September from Toronto to Ottawa.

Good crop condition is confirmed by the NDVI profiles and related spatial NDVI patterns in the key growing period from the end of June to September: 80% to 90% of the agricultural regions of Canada showed a positive departure compared with the previous five years. Favorable crop condition as identified by VCIx (0.9) occurred especially in the southern part of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where the indicator even rose above 1. The significant increase of accumulated biomass potential (BIOMASS) also identified good crop condition in Alberta (+37%), Manitoba (+47%), and Saskatchewan (+48%), while average crop condition was recorded in Ontario (+6%) and Quebec (-3%). The cropped arable land fraction (CALF) indicator and cropping intensity also showed a positive trend, with slightly above average conditions (+1% and + 3%, respectively).

CropWatch currently projects wheat production in Canada for 2016 to be up 8% over last year.

(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI   

(b) Maximum VCI

(c) Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA and the coresponding NDVI departure profiles