With Thanksgiving approaching, a significant portion of the provincial crop remains in the field.
Sixty percent has been combined in central areas, 45 percent in the northeast and only one-third in the northwest. Southern areas sit at 90 percent, bringing the provincial total to 73 percent, or only five percent higher than the previous week.
Shannon Friesen, a Saskatchewan Agriculture crops extension specialist, says farmers continue to wait for an extended period of warmer, drier weather.
“It’s not really a question of if the crop is ready to go, it’s whether or not it is dry enough to go. That applies to both the fields being dry or the crop not being too tough or too damp.”
Crops that were combined last week had to be placed into aeration bins and dryers. The greatest harvest progress (11 percent) was made in the northeast.
“It was really due to not having as much rain as other perhaps areas,” says Friesen. “Crops are still very wet and fields are very wet. Most producers up there are use to having wet falls and so many of them have dryers and aeration already.”
Volunteer crop reporters were asked to assess the quality of the crop combined to date. Fifty-four percent of spring wheat is being reported as 1CW. Twenty-five percent is pegged at 2CW, 17 percent 3CW and four percent CW Feed. Friesen says there will be more lower quality wheat harvested in the coming weeks.
Provincial yield estimates are about average, but vary by region depending on moisture received during the growing season.
The highest yields tend to be in the northeast and the lowest in the southwest. For example, the average provincial canola yield is estimated at 37 bushels an acre. The northeast is 46 bushels an acre, while the southwest is only 23 bushels an acre.
You can view the entire region-by-region crop report at: