Saskatchewan Agriculture reports the past week of hot dry weather has allowed this year's harvest to move forward rapidly.Saskatchewan Agriculture released its crop report yesterday for the period from September 3rd to 9th.
Meghan Rosso, a Crops Extension Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, says producers made significant progress over the past week due to the lack of moisture and 61 percent of this year's crop is now in the bin, up from the 42 percent reported last week and ahead of the five-year average of 50 percent and the 10-year average of 46 percent.
Quote-Meghan Rosso-Saskatchewan Agriculture:
Harvest is nearly complete across the province for winter cereals, triticale, lentils and field peas.
Durum is currently sitting at 83 percent harvested, barley is 70 percent harvested, spring wheat is 60 percent harvested, oats are currently sitting at 53 percent harvested and canary seed is sitting at 32 percent harvested.
Chickpeas are estimated to be 76 percent harvested across the province and for oilseed crops mustard is the furthest advanced at 84 percent harvested followed canola at 28 percent and flax at 22 percent.
Crop yield and quality continues to vary throughout the province due to the scattered rainfall received throughout the growing season.Producers have indicated good crop quality in some areas but there are an increasing number of producers who are concerned with light bushel weights and small seed size for various crops. Pea grades are mainly sitting at a grade of two at 58 percent with 39 percent grading as a one.
As we look to lentil grades, they are mainly sitting at a grade of two at 69 percent with 25 percent grading at a number one. Durum quality is reported at 28 percent at a grade of one, 36 percent at a grade of two and 23 percent at a grade of three.As we look to barley it's reported at 27 percent at malt quality, 48 percent at a grade of one and 25 percent at a grade of two or sample. Overall crop damage for the past week was mainly due to wind and migratory birds.
Grasshoppers are being reported at higher numbers in some areas with overall minor to moderate crop damage estimated.
Rosso cautions combine and equipment fires are a significant risk and producers are monitoring stored grain closely due to concerns with bin heating resulting from the high temperatures that occurred during combining.
Source : Farmscape.ca