Another Week Lost to Rain

VANCOUVER - Sep 16/10 - SNS -- Saskatchewan's harvest made little progress during the past week, with the percentage of lentils in the bin advancing just two percentage points on the week to just 31% complete, according to the latest crop report form the provincial agriculture department.

The situation is not much better for fields, where the harvest moved forward another four percentage points to 61% complete, instead of the normal 90% in the bin by this time of year.

Overall, only 14% of all crops grown in Saskatchewan are now in the bin, according to Saskatchewan Agriculture. Another 36% is swathed or ready to straightcombine. The five-year provincial average (2005 to 2009) for this time of year is 51% combined and an additional 30% swathed or ready to straight-combine.

Another week of significant rainfall in most areas of the province continues to delay harvest progress. The most progress was made in swathing canola; some field peas, canaryseed and chickpeas were combined. There were a couple days that allowed some producers to seed winter cereals.

The southwest has 25% of the crop combined; the southeast 22%; the northeast 8%, and the northwest 6%. The east-central and west-central regions have 9% and 7% combined, respectively.

The majority of crop damage is being caused by rain, disease and wind. Below-zero temperatures were recorded in some areas of the province. Fields are very wet, making harvest difficult.