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Warm weather helping farmers

Sep 30, 2010 | 4:20 PM

By Brent Bosker

paNews Staff

The recent warm weather has lifted the spirits of farmers and pushed the harvest forward.

According to the latest crop report from Saskatchewan Agriculture, about 29 per cent of the crop is combined.

That's an 11 per cent improvement from the previous week, but still far behind the five-year average of 75 per cent.

The change in weather has boosted the moral of farmers who have been hampered by one of the wettest growing seasons on record, said Saskatchewan Agriculture's Grant McLean.

“Farmers being who they are, once they're able to do something, even though it is challenging, they prefer that rather than pacing back and forth between the house and the shop in the mud,” McLean said.

Kerry Peterson who farms near Shellbrook had just 12 per cent of his crop combined last week. The warm and sunny weather has allowed him to make-up ground in a hurry.

“I think harvesting is moving along well, it’s probably perfect conditions here and it sounds like the weather is going to hold. It's a big improvement over a week ago,” said Peterson.

The northeast area, which includes Prince Albert, has 32 per cent of the crop in the bin. According to Peterson he's about 40 per cent done.

bbosker@rawlco.com