Rain in much of Saskatchewan last week continues to soak fields and frustrate farmers’ efforts to get the crop off, the province reported Thursday.
In its crop report for the week ending Monday (Sept. 6), the provincial ag ministry estimated just 13 per cent of the 2010 crop has been combined, down from the five-year (2005-09) average of 35 per cent for the same time of year.
Another 31 per cent of the crop is swathed or ready to straight-combine, the province noted, up from the five-year average of 29 per cent.
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Crop producers in southwestern Saskatchewan have 22 per cent of their crops combined, followed by the southeast at 19 per cent.
In east-central Saskatchewan, eight per cent of the crop was combined by Monday, followed by the northeast and west-central regions at seven per cent and the northwest at just six per cent, the province said.
Rain and disease remain responsible for much of the crop damage reported, the province said, with the rain leading to lodging, flooding, bleaching and sprouting.
Farmers are also trying to control weeds on acres left unseeded due to excess moisture, the ag ministry said.
In the southwest, where the harvest is farthest ahead, wheat stem sawflies are reported to be causing damage.
Producers are also trying to finish up haying, but rain “continues to delay the completion” of the haying season, the ag ministry said.
