By Colin Budd
There may be a glimmer of hope for farmers with crops still in the fields.
Sunny conditions so far in November and an expected decrease in precipitation have producers anticipating they may be able to put a dent in their remaining harvest after October moved along at less than a snail’s pace for many.
According to Sask. Agriculture’s weekly crop report just 79 per cent of the crop was in the bin as of the end of last week, an increase of only two per cent from the week before. Last year almost 100 per cent was picked up.
Battling ground conditions will also be an issue as many farmers aren’t able to get heavy equipment onto fields after a month of frequent rain and snowfall.
“Many individuals are going to be waiting until the ground freezes so they can get heavy equipment in,” said crop expert Grant McLean. “Further east – particularly in the Prince Albert, Birch Hills and Nipawin area – they’re going to have to wait until we get colder temperatures that freeze the ground and then hope we get clear, cold weather for the next three or four weeks so we can get the harvest off.”
McLean, who talks to farmers regularly in his position, said the amount remaining is widely varied. Some are chomping at the bit to get their last 80 acres off while others are still looking at long days ahead with well over 1,000 acres.
Preserving crop quality will be a battle for farmers the later they have to wait. Grain drying equipment has reportedly come into high demand, with many farmers doing away with the dryers after four or five years of not requiring it.
“We’ve been fortunate where harvest has been early enough and/or individuals haven’t had to use grain dryers (the last few years), so in the short run there certainly has been high demand on any of the grain drying facilities or equipment that has been available,” said McLean.
Despite being behind, McLean said most aren’t about to throw in the towel on getting the crop off before snow hits permanently.
“Depending upon their circumstances they may choose (to pick it up in the spring), but most individuals would rather – for various reasons – get the crop off the field even though it’s going to be challenging,” he said.
“Particularly producers in the north, northeast and east-central areas are continuous croppers, so with that situation there, if you have crops that are over-wintering it doubles up the workload next spring and makes it more challenging because you’re harvesting at the same time you’re trying to get next year’s crop in and managing that harvested crop as well. With the short window we have with seeding anyhow, most individuals are making every effort not to have to do that.”
Breaking down Sask.
• 12 per cent of the provincial crop remains in the swath
• four per cent is standing and five per cent is ready to straight-combine.
What’s been combined?
• 78 per cent of the spring wheat
• 91 per cent of the durum
• 59 per cent of the oats
• 86 per cent of the barley
• 33 per cent of the flax
• 69 per cent of the canola
• 89 per cent of the mustard
• 59 per cent of the canary seed
• 85 per cent of the chickpeas
• three per cent of the sunflowers have been combined.
• All regions of the province still have crops in the field, with the northern and east-central regions having the largest amount of unharvested crop.
••• From the Sask. Weekly Crop Report