Saskatchewan Agriculture Reports Crop Quality and Yields Dependant on Rainfall During the Growing Season

A Crops Extension Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture reports crop yields and quality are variable across the province, dependent on how much rain was received during the growing season.Saskatchewan Agriculture released its weekly crop report Thursday for the period from September 10th to 16th.Tyce Masich, a Crops Extension Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, says rainfall last week slowed the harvest.

Quote-Tyce Masich-Saskatchewan Agriculture:

The jump in progress this past week was a little bit less than we saw the week before because a lot of Saskatchewan got hit with some rainfall which slowed down harvest for producers but harvest is now 74 percent complete in the province, which is above both the five and ten-year averages.The five-year average for this time period is 63 percent and the ten-year average is 58 percent so progress-wise Saskatchewan is in a good place.

Provincially average yields for spring wheat are 45 bushels per acre, for canola it's 34 bushels per acre, barley 63 bushels per acre, peas are 36 bushels per acre and lentils are 13 hundred and 17 pounds per acre.The highest yields we're seeing are in the northeast region of the province.That's because they, along with the east central, have received the most amount of rainfall during the growing season, especially in the month of July.

That allowed crops to mature nicely and to achieve a bit higher yields than what we're seeing in southern areas of the province where they had drier conditions.Then most of the province was subject to a hot dry July which definitely hurt yield potential and that resulted in yields being a little disappointing for farmers and average to slightly below average provincially.As far as quality goes, quality is about on par with what we've seen in the five and ten-year averages, which is a decent sign that we're about average.We're not below average or anything like that.So, overall quality is decent.

Masich says there is rain in the forecast so harvest progress over the next week will depend on how much rain is received, but in many cases, farmers will welcome the moisture.