Warm weather helps harvest progress in Saskatchewan

Farmers in southern Saskatchewan used the warm weather last week to make substantial progress on their harvest.

Their counterparts in the central and northern areas of the province weren’t as fortunate.

According to the weekly crop report from the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers in the southwest region of the province have 31 per cent of their crops combined while producers in the southeast are at 19 per cent.

Farmers in central Saskatchewan are behind that pace — they’re at 12 per cent in the west and nine per cent in the east — but those in the northeast (four per cent) and northwest (two per cent) are well behind.

Overall, 15 per cent of the crop is combined in the province, up from four per cent last week. The five-year average for this time of year is 12 per cent.

Sixteen per cent of the crop is swathed or is ready to straight-cut, one percentage point behind the five-year average.

The report said 89 per cent of fall rye, 82 per cent of winter wheat, 59 per cent of lentils, 56 per cent of field peas, 20 per cent of barley, 15 per cent of durum, nine per cent of oats, five per cent of spring wheat and two per cent of canola has been combined. An additional 16 per cent of canola has been swathed or is ready to straight-cut.

Topsoil moisture conditions continue to drop due to the warm temperatures and relative lack of precipitation.

Cropland topsoil moisture is rated as one per cent surplus and 37 per cent adequate, but 42 per cent short and 20 per cent very short. The ratings for hay and pasture land topsoil moisture were one per cent surplus, 27 per cent adequate, 41 per cent short and 31 per cent very short.

That said, there were reports of localized flooding in the northwest, which received more rain than other areas of the province during the week.