By Alice McFarlane

Harvest underway in Saskatchewan

Aug 13, 2020 | 3:12 PM

MELFORT, Sask. – The recent warm weather helped to mature crops.

The latest crop indicated one per cent of the crop has been combined and two per cent swathed or ready to straight-cut with harvest most advanced in the south and west-central regions.

Two per cent of the crop in the southwest is combined and one per cent of the crop in the southeast and west-central is combined.

Crops extension specialist Sara Tetland said if the weather holds there will be more swathing and combining in the coming days.

“A lot of farmers have indicated that they plan to do a lot more desiccating this week, so I think we’ll see those numbers picking up,” Tetland said.

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Fifty-two per cent of fall rye, 19 per cent of winter wheat, six per cent of field peas and three per cent of lentils are now in the bin.

Tetland said some of the earlier crop is designed for cattle feed.

“On top of that one per cent of the oats and two per cent of the barley is off and a lot of that has been combined for greenfeed,” she said.

Producers in the central and northern regions have less than one per cent of the crop combined, but many expect to start in the coming weeks.

Tetland said some farmers in central and southern areas said more rain is needed to ensure good grain fill in those crops.

Most of the crop damage was due to environmental conditions right across the province.

“There was damage due to dry conditions and wind as well as damage due to heat so there was premature ripening in some areas and some heat blasting reported, typically in canola crops,” she said.

The five-year average for this time of year is two per cent combined and three per cent swathed or ready to straight-cut.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF