Harvest Nearly Complete in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan's harvest is nearly wrapped up according to today's Ministry of Agriculture crop report.

Eighty-nine per cent of the harvest run is done province-wide, up from 74 per cent last week, with the southwest leading the way harvest-wise at 94 per cent complete with the northwest bringing up the rear at 77 per cent.

"We had a great week this past week, farmers were able to get out there and very little delay," Matthew Struthers, a crops extension specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, said. "Well ahead of our five-year average of 63 per cent, so well ahead of where we normally are for this time of year which is good to see, it's nice to see that harvest will be kind of wrapped up and farmers can forget about it but unfortunate that it was such a poor year for them."

Struther added he expects harvest to be completed within the next two weeks or so.

Lentils, field peas, durum, barley, spring wheat, and chickpeas are all in the 90th percentile harvest-wise, however, a few crops have some large portions to still come off.

"Mostly it's canola and flax that's kind of waiting to be taken off," he said. "Canola takes so long and there's been some issues with re-growth and that's kind of slowed things down. And then flax takes longer to get ready and then it's also quite tough so farmers can leave it out there to pick up last."

There was some crop damage this week reported due to a variety of reasons.

"The biggest damage this week was done by wind, frost, and then there's been quite a bit of wildlife and waterfowl damage now that they're getting out and about in the fields now that there's grain and swaths being laid down."

Most of the frost issues have been reported in the western and eastern parts of the province.

Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation provides compensation for damage caused by wildlife through the Wildlife Damage Compensation Program.