AFA cautiously optimistic about harvest season in southern Alberta

Posted on September 11, 2026 by Sunny South News

By Kristine Jean
Sunny South News

H

arvest season is underway for many farmers across Alberta, and for those in the south, this year’s harvest and crop prospects are encouraging. 

That’s according to Aaron Stein, executive director of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture (AFA), who recently shared a fall Ag update for Southern Alberta that included some of the challenges farmers are facing this season, some of their successes, and a crop status update as harvest continues into September.  

“In Southern and Central Alberta, we’re headed towards what appears to be, with the harvest starting now, very encouraging crop prospects,” said Stein, adding that  farmers and producers in the northeast and northwest regions of the province have dealt with moisture issues and late seeding this season. 

The Alberta Federation of Agriculture (AFA) is the united voice of Alberta’s farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers. They champion sustainable growth, responsible land use, innovation, and producer protection by developing cross-sector policies and advocating on behalf of their members. 

While there has been huge regional variability in moisture across the province this growing season, Southern Alberta experienced “some periods of significant moisture stress during the summer,” noted Stein, with crops developing rapidly under warm conditions in recent weeks, and by early August much of the surface moisture had deteriorated considerably. 

“Fortunately, subsequent rainfall has helped and we’re in a good to excellent position right now,” said Stein, noting almost 80 per cent of crops are rated good to excellent in the south, with a very positive outlook for harvest. In terms of moisture and crop growing, the southern region is also doing very well despite some hail claims and regional differences. 

“All in all, it seems for the south, to be a pretty good year,” said Stein, noting reasons behind the very strong crop prospects this season, include timely moisture and warm temperatures. 

“It wasn’t necessarily perfect and it certainly wasn’t uniform, but enough precipitation arrived at critical stages in many areas to allow the crops to establish and flourish,” explained Stein. “I’d say the second (reason) is heat – the warm temperatures we’ve enjoyed and experienced in Southern Alberta have allowed the crops to move rapidly through their stages.”

Stein pointed out the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation’s (AFSC) hail damage claims across the province saw nearly 40 per cent of hail claims come from Southern Alberta – that included almost 2,400 claims in the southern region out of 5,800 in total, as of Aug. 18.  

There are other challenges facing farmers this harvest season, which include rising fuel costs, the federal fuel tax which is returning in early September, along with trade and tariff issues, noted Stein. 

“Honeybee producers are being hit with 50 per cent tariffs. When you look at your multi-crop producers – the Canadian reciprocal tariffs on the U.S. have targeted a lot of high-end machine parts…we’re putting tariffs on those parts coming into Canada which ultimately, if you’ve got that machine, it’s going to increase your cost of operations,” he said. 

In addition to strong crop prospects this fall, farmers had success in several areas during the 2026 growing season, including producer management “that has made the resilience of Alberta cropping systems that much better,” said Stein. 

“That matters when we see crops perform well despite periods of moisture stress. Some of that success is weather but some of it is the result of long-term investment and innovation by producers,” he added. “(For) Southern Alberta pasture conditions, we’re looking at almost 45 to 50 per cent good to excellent as of Aug. 18, compared to the five-year average which is 25 per cent. So pasture conditions are way up which is great for cattle.” 

Harvest season usually lasts about six weeks starting at the end of August, and currently, about five to 10 per cent of the major crops are being harvested, which is a bit behind the five-year average of 20 per cent, for this time of year.  

“The harvest is coming a little bit later right now than normal,” said Stein, noting current numbers so far pertain to primarily crop conditions and yield estimates. “What’s coming off (the field) I think is dry peas – they are the most advanced of the crops and almost 20 per cent of our dried peas have been harvested, compared with what would normally be around eight per cent. So dried peas are off a little bit early and the fall seeding crops are also among the earlier crops coming off, followed by peas and early cereals,” he added, noting as harvest progresses, farmers will continue with barley, spring wheat and canola. 

“Almost 80 per cent of the major crops are rated good to excellent, compared with the five-year average of 39 per cent so almost double of what we’re seeing this year is rated good to excellent in Southern Alberta,” said Stein. “We’re cautiously optimistic about the south and what we’re seeing and it’s been the strongest rating over the last five years.”  

He said priorities for farmers now are focusing on warm, dry weather, avoiding hail and protecting grain quality. 

“If we continue like we did last year, where right now through to start of October, we had very little rain, some nice warm winds that will really help with harvest and drying everything out, I would say it’s a very encouraging year for production potential,” said Stein. “However, there’s still enormous regional variability and obviously continuing economic uncertainty as far as export markets and trade and tariff disputes.

“What happens here as we cross the finish line in the next six weeks, is critical,” Stein added, noting that total yields are only part of the equation. He pointed to the return of the federal tax in September as producers are trying to navigate rapidly changing trade markets while absorbing costs for fuel, fertilizer and machinery. 

“The success isn’t just in how much we grow, it’s the quality of what we grow and our ability to sell it in competitive markets and leave enough margin to keep the farm economically sustainable,” Stein concluded.