Pulse Harvest Surges Toward 75% Done

VANCOUVER - Sep 10/09 - SNS -- Harvesting of this year's pulse crops made rapid progress last week, according to the latest crop progress report from Saskatchewan Agriculture.

Just over 18% of all crops were harvest at the start of the week, down from the recent five year average of 33% in the bin by this time of year. This year's lentil harvest was 65% complete as the week got underway, compared to 68% of the peas, 30% of the mustard, 7% of the chickpeas, 1% of the canaryseed, 75% of the winter wheat, 77% of the fall rye and 5% of the canola.

Grasshoppers, wind, sawfly and dry conditions caused the majority of crop damage. Grasshoppers are feeding on canola and mustard pods in some areas. Swathing is occurring more so this year to try and deal with variable maturity and sawfly damage.

Farmers are busy combining, swathing, desiccating, hauling grain, preparing for fall seeding, and waiting for the crops to mature. A sunny, dry and frost free weather forecast is needed for the next few weeks to move the crop from the fields to the bins.

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