(Alice McFarlane/farmnewsNOW Staff)

By Alice McFarlane

Crop Report

Crop quality concerns

Oct 10, 2019 | 11:35 AM

Wet, cool weather continues to slow harvest progress in much of the province.

The latest crop report from the Ministry of Agriculture pegged harvest at 55 per cent, well behind the five year average of 82 per cent.

Much of the crop harvested so far is tough or damp and is being put into grain dryers and aeration bins. There continued to be many reports of crops sprouting, bleaching and staining and downgrading is expected at the elevator.

Tisdale area farmer Gary Mayerle said there is no question that the fall has been challenging.

“It’s been kind of difficult this year, but that`s farming in Saskatchewan. We’ve got some good days now so we’re happy about that,” Mayerle said. “We’re just a little over half way as we just got started on the canola and we still have some flax and oats.”

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Mayerle said his farm like many others are having issues with cereal quality.

“We’re struggling with sprouting. We’re just figuring out how bad that`s going to be. They’ve got this test called falling number. Sprouting affects the dough making qualities. We`ll see how that pans out,” Mayerle said. “We’re drying grain as much as we can between it and combining.”

Mayerle said his farm will need another ten days to two weeks to finish harvest.

Nokomis area farmer Brett Halstead is having the same difficulties.

“Quite a few issues with sprouting, even in standing wheat and chitted barley, things like that, mildews have been an issue,” Halstead said. “(Grading) twos on down. Now they’re starting to call for falling number tests because of quality concerns.”

Halstead said the rain and snow have caused delays and because he does not have a dryer they need to watch the crop closely.

“We try to manage the best we can with some aeration. We also have a Frost Fighter which can put some heat into the aeration fan but that’s a little slower process then drying obviously,” Halstead said. “Typically we haven`t needed a dryer over many years around here. It’s been a couple years in a row there’s been a little more of a moisture issue especially the later fall stuff. They do dry at the terminal but you know that’s, I think, a little more expensive option then probably doing it yourself.”

The southwest region is the most advanced where 71 per cent of the crop is now combined. The northeast region has 61 per cent completed, the west-central region is at 58 per cent and the southeastern region 55 per cent. The northwest region has 42 per cent combined and the east-central region is at 39 per cent.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF