Producers made significant progress with their harvest operations last week, according to the Ministry of Agriculture’s latest crop report.
Forty-two per cent of the crop has been harvested across the province, up from 23 per cent last week and slightly ahead of the five-year average of 40 per cent.
The southwest region continues to lead harvest operations, with 83 per cent of the crop combined. The west-central is next with 61 per cent of their crop harvested, the southeast with 33 per cent, the northwest with 28 per cent, the east-central with 27 per cent and the northeast with 21 per cent.
Winter cereals are near completion, with 96 per cent of winter wheat and 84 per cent of fall rye harvested. Ninety-one per cent of lentils and field peas, 70 per cent of durum, 52 per cent of barley, 40 per cent of spring wheat and 22 per cent of the canola crop has now been combined.
Currently, estimated averages of crop yields are 43 bushels per acre for hard red spring wheat, 30 bushels per acre for durum, 34 bushels per acre for canola, 34 bushels per acre for field peas and 1,174 pounds per acre for lentils.
The Ministry said crop yields in the southwest and west-central regions had been greatly affected by the extremely hot and dry conditions, with yields significantly lower in these areas than the provincial averages.
Cropland topsoil moisture is rated as one per cent surplus, 42 per cent adequate, 34 per cent short, and 23 per cent very short. Hay and pasture land topsoil moisture are rated as one per cent surplus, 35 per cent adequate, 39 per cent short and 25 per cent very short.
The majority of crop damage reported this past week was due to wind and grasshoppers.
Most crop damage this past week was attributed to wind and grasshoppers. Strong winds blew swaths around fields, resulting in yield loss and a challenging harvest for affected producers. Grasshoppers will continue to be a significant problem until their conditions are less favourable. Producers have also noticed a slight increase in ergot fungus in their cereal fields this year.
