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By Alice McFarlane

Saskatchewan Crop Report 2020

A few more days needed for Saskatchewan farmers to wrap up harvest

Oct 8, 2020 | 5:05 PM

MELFORT, Sask. – Most farmers have completed or are very close to having the 2020 crop in the bin.

The latest crop report from the Ministry of Agriculture said 96 per cent of the crop is combined up from 89 per cent last week.

Crops extension specialist Kaeley Kindrachuk said combining should be close to finished in the Outlook, Sask. region in a few days.

“There might still be a very small amount of cereals, canola and flax left but producers for the most part are finished around here,” Kindrachuk said.

Most of the province reported a shortage of topsoil moisture rated as 31 per cent adequate, 41 per cent short and 28 per cent very short while hay and pastureland is 22 per cent adequate, 36 per cent short and 42 per cent very short.

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Crop yields are projected to be average to below average with excellent quality. Kindrachuk said there was good rainfall early in the growing season and then the tap shut off in July.

“When it stopped raining in mid July the crop developed quickly with the heat and harvest happened a lot quicker then we’ve seen in the past,” she said. “Based on what I saw scouting canola fields it looked like the tops of the canola plants were a little bit dried out, the seeds didn’t fill fully so I do think the heat had something to do with the yields.”

Kindrachuk said she hasn’t seen much in the way of fall rye or winter wheat being seeded because of a lack of moisture. She said a good rainfall would be welcomed once everyone has finished combining.

Harvest is most advanced in the southwest region where combining is virtually complete at 99 per cent. The southeast and west-central regions are both at 89 per cent. The northeast region has 93 per cent combined with east-central at 92 per cent and 91 per cent in the northwest.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF