Warm and drier weather this past week allowed farmers to make more progress on harvest.

The provincial crop report has progress at 91 per cent complete, up from 79 per cent last week and way ahead of the five and ten year averages for this time of year. The southwest is pretty much done at 99 per cent; not far behind is the southeast region at 94 per cent; the west-central region is 90 per cent done harvest, east-central is 88 per cent complete, the northwest 85 per cent and the northeast 81 per cent.

All of the winter wheat, triticale, field peas, lentils are harvested; and virtually all of the durum is taken off the field. The other spring-seeded crops are not far behind – 98 per cent of barley, 98 per cent of mustard, 96 per cent of spring wheat, 95 per cent of chickpeas, 94 per cent of oats and 92 per cent of canary seed crops are off. Farmers are focused on the oilseed crops as 82 per cent of canola, 68 per cent of flax, and 56 per cent of soybeans have been combined.

Crop yields vary around the province due to the variable weather conditions we’ve had this growing season, from lots of rain to hot, dry conditions. Provincially, the average yield for cereal crops are 46 bushels per acre for hard red spring wheat, 32 bushels per acre for durum, 62 bushels per acre for barley and 75 bushels per acre for oats. For oilseed crops, the average yield for canola is 33 bushels per acre, 688 pounds per acre for mustard, and 22 bushels per acre for flax. For pulse crops, average yields for field peas are 35 bushels per acre, 1220 pounds per acre for lentils, 29 bushels per acre for soybeans, and 1431 pounds per acre for chickpeas.

The quality for hard red spring wheat also vary for the same reasons. The average grade for hard red spring wheat in Saskatchewan is 61 per cent 1CW, 29 per cent 2CW, eight per cent 3CW, and 2 per cent CW Feed. This is slightly better than the five year average of 53 per cent 1CW, 31 per cent 2CW, 10 per cent 3CW, and six per cent CW Feed. It’s also better than the ten year average of 43 per cent 1CW, 33 per cent 2CW, 16 per cent 3CW, and nine per cent CW feed.

Less crop damage is being reported as there are less acres to harvest, but the main causes of damage last week were from wind blowing swathes around, wildlife, and migratory birds.

Once all the crops are off, producers are hoping for a lot of rain before freeze-up to increase soil moisture levels.

Topsoil moisture levels in crop, hay, and pasture land were slightly down this past week. Moisture for crop land is rated as 60 per cent adequate, 34 per cent short and six per cent very short. Moisture for hay land is 50 per cent adequate, 35 per cent short and 15 per cent very short. Moisture levels for pasture land are 43 per cent adequate, 37 per cent short and 20 per cent very short.

Much of the rain reported last week was in the northern regions. The Glaslyn area received the most rainfall at 31 mm, followed by the Meota area at 26mm, North Battleford 25 mm, the Rosthern area 22 mm, the Duck Lake area 20 mm, and both the Spruce Home and Turtleford areas got 19 mm of rain.