The latest crop report from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture says producers in the Weyburn area have 46 per cent of the crop in the bin. This is up from 40 per cent last week, but is well behind the five-year average for this time of year, of 82 per cent. Provincially, producers are a little higher, at 47 per cent.
With several weeks of warm and dry weather needed for fields to dry up and harvest operations to continue, Agriculture Minister David Marit said he's still optimistic they'll get harvest completed before too long.
"On our farm, we're just over 50 per cent done as well, so I'm confident, we always seem to get some nice weather in October and even November, a few years ago it was November when a lot of us got finished up so I'm hopeful and confident that we will see some nice weather and we will get a lot of this crop off," he expressed.
Significant amounts of rain and snow last week has certainly kept harvest progress modest in the region.
"[Provincially], we went from 39 per cent last week to a 47 per cent this week, so we saw an 8 per cent increase in that week, and really, that was only a matter of a few days because we lost part of that week with the snow," Marit noted.
The Weyburn area saw up to 52 mm of precipitation last week, and topsoil moisture conditions in the region continue to worsen since, with many fields remaining saturated. Here in this crop district 100 per cent of the cropland and 50 per cent of the hay land and pasture currently has surplus topsoil moisture.
Most crop damage this past week was due to localized flooding, frost and strong winds. There continues to be many reports of downgrading at the elevator due to sprouting, bleaching, and staining. Ergot in some cereal crops, as well as geese and wildlife feeding on swathed crops, are also being reported in the Weyburn area.
"I know quality has been and is an issue in some cases but for the most part of the province it's a pretty good crop and I'm very hopeful that we'll get it all off," encouraged Marit.
Minister Marit's optimism was balanced with his understanding for what farmers go through at this time of year when half the crop is still on the field.
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