By Alice McFarlane

Harvest roughly one week behind normal in northeast Saskatchewan

Aug 27, 2020 | 12:00 PM

Warm, dry conditions allowed crops to progress and most farmers to make some harvest headway.

Harvest progress is most advanced in the southern regions while the northeast is at four per cent finished and the northwest is two per cent.

Tisdale area farmer Ian Boxall said he hasn’t started yet.

“Probably we will be combining next week, and we’ve got a couple of swathers going. I’m going to check some crops for desiccation,” he said.

Boxall estimated he is about one week behind normal, but he’s not worried as long as the weather is good. He said it’s an exciting time of year.

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“That fact that we’re combing and we’re taking all of the money and time we have invested throughout the whole year you finally come to the point where you can see what you have and see the quality of the grain you’ve grown,” he said.

There were scattered showers throughout the province this past week, with most areas receiving at least trace amounts. The Turtleford area received the highest amount of rain at 83 millimetres.

Farmers in the southwest region have 31 per cent of the crop in the bin while the southeast region is at 19 per cent.

Weyburn crops extension specialist Sherri Roberts said the hot weather advanced the crop and, in some cases, farmers had to stop combining when the thermometer hit 37 degrees Celsius.

“In that heat a lot of farmers shut down because they have to worry about combine fires and equipment overheating. There was a little bit of a lag there, but they are making up for it and the crops are coming off,” Roberts said.

Roberts said she expects a good crop with average production. She said, unfortunately, there are pockets that missed the early season rains and yields could be below average. Some producers were still spraying to control grasshoppers.

Roberts said with harvest underway in Saskatchewan, she wanted to remind producers to exercise caution.

“No matter how rushed you might be and need to get the crop in, first and foremost, always, always, always think about safety for yourself, your family and for your workers,” she said. “When there is a farm injury or death due to rushing, you live with that for the rest of your life. No matter how important it is to get that crop in always put safety first.”

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF