Wheat: Planting to Harvest

Planting and Growing wheat

There are several different kinds of wheat grown in Canada, including Canada Western Red Spring, Canada Prairie Spring Red, and Canada Western Red Winter.

Once the snow melts and the soil warms up enough to allow seeds to sprout (early to mid-May), the farmer places seeds into the soil about 1.5 – 2 inches deep and deposits a specific amount of fertilizer along with the seed to help the crop grow.

Before being placed in the ground, the wheat seeds may be coated with a seed treatment to protect them from pests like insects and diseases and to encourage sprouting.

The wheat crop lifecycle from seeding to maturity is typically 90 to 100 days, depending on the environmental conditions like drought, high temperatures or crop disease. The farmer and an agronomist will help monitor the health of the wheat crop as it grows. They will scout for weeds, diseases and insects that could damage the crop. Farmers can apply crop protection products to protect the wheat crop.

Once wheat seeds are planted, farmers focus on weed control to keep the crops from having too many weeds. This ensures that nutrients are available for the growing crops and not the weeds. Pesticides are substances used to manage pests by killing or repelling them. Pests can be insects, plants (weeds), rodents, or diseases.

There are 4 types of pesticides:

• Herbicides: control unwanted plants (weeds) that compete with crops and natural habitats for nutrients, space, water and sunlight.
• Fungicides: protect plants from fungi that can spread from pant to plant and destroy crops.
• Insecticides: control insects that eat crops or transmit disease.
• Rodenticides: kill rodents such as mice and rats that may carry disease.

Harvesting wheat

Approximately 90-100 days after seeding, the wheat will be ready to harvest.

The farmer monitors the crop for maturity and moisture content (no more than 13% seed moisture content) and will use a moisture meter to know if the crop is ready to be harvested with a combine.

A combine is the machine that is used to harvest the wheat seeds. Harvesting wheat is very dependent on the weather, because weather can impact the quality of the wheat. Too much wind, rain or cold weather can damage the crop.

Once harvested in the combine, the wheat is transported in grain trucks to large storage bins. Farmers take samples of the wheat crop and record the moisture content and quality of the wheat. This is important information for the farmer to have when it comes to selling the crop.

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Sources: FarmFood360