Canada's Harvest Stalls

REGINA - Oct 13/16 - SNS -- Canada's lentil harvest has stalled at 95% complete as winter weather conditions prevailed across much of Alberta and Saskatchewan during the past week.

In its latest crop progress report, Saskatchewan Agriculture said of all crops grown in the province, 81% have now been harvested and another 15% is swathed or ready to straight-cut. The five-year (2011-2015) average for this time of year is 93% combined.

The southeast has 89% of the harvest in the bin, compared to 85% of the crop is combined in the southwest, 79% in the east-central region, 73% in the west-central, 78% in the northwest and 80% in the northeast.

"Over the past three weeks, harvest progress has been minimal due to wet conditions," the provincial agriculture department said. "Significant rain and snow were recorded throughout the province during this past week. The weather system started for most regions on October 2 and has continued on with rain, snow and overcast conditions up to the release of this report."

Environment Canada expects further rainfall or snow in parts of the province in the next couple of days. But, the coming days are expected to be cold, with temperatures falling below freezing during the night and rising into the single digits during the day.

With 55% of the farmland in the province rated as having excess moisture, the remainder of the harvest is expected to move forward at a slow pace, with farmers believing it will take several days of sunny weather for the land to be dry enough to support their machinery.