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By Alice McFarlane

Saskatchewan Crop Report 2020

Saskatchewan harvest progressing quickly

Oct 1, 2020 | 12:00 PM

MELFORT, Sask. – Conditions have been relatively dry throughout the province allowing farmers to make significant harvest progress.

The latest report from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture reported 89 per cent of the crop has been combined, up from 77 per cent last week and well ahead of the five-year average of 67 per cent for this time of year.

Some farmers in northern and central areas still have some crop to pick up heading into October but it is a much better scenario then the last few years.

It’s a good feeling picking up the last few swaths and putting a wrap on the 2020 harvest according to Lanigan, Sask. area farmer Clinton Monchuk.

He said they finished the last field of the canola on Tuesday and like many other farmers, he called it an average crop.

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“We’ve had some fields where I’m shaking my head and I don’t understand why they didn’t yield as good as they could have,” Monchuk said. “Some are a little bit better than we expected. It would be roughly average for our area and for our farm.”

Getting an earlier start on harvest has allowed the Monchuks’ to seed fall rye for the first time. He said it is coming up nicely.

“The soil moisture is adequate right now for our area. Granted, we had quite a bit of rain in June in this area and in fact some flooding. We’re okay right now for soil moisture but I think some areas definitely could use a good half inch to an inch before things freeze up,” he said.

Monchuk is also the executive director of Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan. He has communicated with other farmers by phone or on social media. A lot of the conversation has been around mental health in the agriculture community.

“One of those big things is to not have the stress of a crop that has snow on it or excessive rain. To have the crop in the bin and out of the way before we have Thanksgiving for us is truly a blessing,” Monchuk said. “We’re very thankful we have it completed now and a majority of our neighbours are in the same boat.”

Monchuk said it makes conversations more positive going into the fall season.

Harvest is most advanced in the southwest region, where 99 per cent of the crop is now combined. The southeast region is at 96 per cent while west central is at 90 per cent. The east central region has 82 per cent combined, the northeast is 81 per cent and the northwest reported 66 per cent of the crop has been harvested.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF