Canaryseed Harvest Nearing End

VANCOUVER - Nov 19/09 - SNS -- Saskatchewan's canaryseed harvest has made good progress this month, with data in Saskatchewan Agriculture's latest weekly Crop Report suggesting the harvest is around 90% complete.

Good harvesting weather throughout most of November has allowed Saskatchewan farmers to harvest 97% of all crops grown in the province. Since the beginning of the month, farmers have been able to harvest 17% of the crop. By comparison, only 10% of the provincial crop was harvested in the entire month of October.

The northeast region has the most crop still out in the field, reporting that 91% of harvest is complete. The northwest region has 95% of harvest in the bin, the east central, 97%, the west central, 99%, the south east and south west have 99% of the harvest is complete.

Canaryseed harvest progress is lagging that of other crops, with crop reports in southwestern Saskatchewan (Crop Districts 3ASW, 3AN, 3B and 4) saying harvesting of all crops has been essentially complete for some time now, with farmers in the region watching for heating on some of the crop that was binned fairly tough.

In east-central Saskatchewan (Crop Districts 5 and 6A), 96% of all crops have been harvested, including 96% of the canaryseed, 86% of the flax, 98% of the canola and spring wheat, 94% of the oats and 15% of the sunflowers. Crop reporters expect the canaryseed harvest to wrap up this week.

The same is true of west-central Saskatchewan (Crop Districts 6B and 7), where 99% of all crops are now in the bin, including 97% of the flax, 99% of the canola and 97% of the oats.

Growers in northeastern Saskatchewan (Crop Districts 8 and 9AE) have harvested 91% of all crops, including 65% of the canaryseed, 94% of the spring wheat, 91% of the oats, 96% of the barley, 64% of the flax and 89% of the canola.

In northwestern Saskatchewan (Crop Districts 9AW and 9B) 95% of all crops are now harvested, including 95% of the spring wheat, 93% of the oats, 59% of the flax and 92% of the canola.