It was only a few weeks ago much of Eastern Saskatchewan and Western Manitoba was left floating by a deluge of rain at the end of June.
It was an event which left home basements flooded, road culverts washed away, and farmers fearing this year's crop was all but lost.
How a few weeks change the perspective?
While the 2014 harvest is just beginning the early reports from the cabs of swathers and the still rare combined field, have been that yields are better than had been anticipated.
Now one should temper early reports for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, even in a normal year, early seeded crops, which of course translate to earlier harvested, often fare better than average in terms of yields.
And in a year like 2014 has been, being better than expected means less, since expectations were low based on the rains of late June.
Still, the news is better than we might have anticipated, although there are certainly hundreds of acres of farmland producing no crop this year based on flooding.
However, if the weather cooperates over the next six-weeks, it is likely yields are going to be in the somewhat vague range of average, at least on acres still producing a crop.
Coupled with a carryover of 2013 crop in many farmers bins producers will generally have the ability to capture whatever markets and prices are available heading into 2015.
Given the situation on July 1, things are much better today, as we head into harvest full swing.
The farm sector has also seen cattle prices take a significant jump, and even the hog sector, long battered, is seeing a bit better price structure, although that is also tempered when grain prices are good since feed is the major production cost.
It is not to suggest here that farmers are having a great 2014, but it is another year where profits are more likely than red ink, the level of profit dependent on a range of factors tied to individual farm cases.
Agriculture, at least on the grains and oilseeds side, are seeing some longer term stability in terms of reasonable prices, if not corporate level returns on investment, and that is a positive for the Canadian Prairies where seeding and harvest remain massive economic generators.
