Wet, snowy weather put damper on Sask. harvest

The wet, snowy and cool weather put a damper on harvest for producers in the province this week.

The provincial crop report for the week of Sept. 18-24 shows 68 per cent of the harvest is in the bin, which is just ahead of the five year average of 64 per cent for this time of year.

Producers in the south are furthest along with about 88 per cent of crops combined, while their northern counterparts are behind with only 27 per cent complete in the northwest and 34 per cent in the northeast.

Across the central region, where some areas saw up to 15 centimetres of snow over the weekend, about 59 per cent of the crop is in the bin. Rain and snow caused some quality loss for crops.

The lentil crop is almost completely finished with 97 per cent in the bin, along with 96 per cent of field peas and 82 per cent of durum. Spring wheat is 53 per cent combined along with 48 per cent of the canola crop and flax crops are about 28 per cent combined.

After waiting through a very dry summer season, producers are seeing better topsoil moisture conditions thanks to the late season rain and snow.