In general, the crop condition as assessed by NDVI isbelow average in this monitoring period. This period is the harvesting seasonof spring-summer crops in Canada, and all crops had been harvested before theend of November. As mentioned in the previous CropWatch bulletin, some crops weredamaged by floods and water logging in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba,resulting in the low average crop condition indicated by VCIx and NDVI profiles.For the agroclimaticindicators in this monitoring stage, rainfall over agricultural areas was17% above average, with aparticularly high increase in Alberta (+29%); temperature wasclose to average, and PARdecreased by -7% compared to averageat the national scale. The NDVI development profile is below averagefrom early October to the end of January, while accumulated biomass (BIOMSS)showed a positive departure of 5%. The cropped arable land fraction (CALF)increased by 4% compared to last five-year average, while the maximum VCI was0.81. The increase of CALF may have resulted from the delayed harvest of summercrops in 2014.

Figure3.9. Canada crop condition, October 2014-January 2015

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

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