ESTEVAN - Producers in the western half of the southeast region have started their harvest operations. Some areas of the region had ideal harvesting conditions while others had humid, rainy weather that hampered some producers from getting any crop harvested.
Most of the region is not yet ready for harvest due to crop maturity being behind normal. However, with the recent hot dry weather in the past two weeks, producers have noted that their crops have started to turn more quickly and they are hoping to be harvesting soon. Most of the crop that has been harvested in the region is lentils, field peas and winter cereals. The harvest progress for the region is at two per cent which is behind the regional five-year average of nine per cent.
Thirty-three per cent of the winter wheat, ten per cent of the fall rye, eight per cent of field peas and five per cent of lentils have been combined in the region so far this year.
The region saw some thunderstorms roll through over the past week with some areas receiving large amounts of precipitation while others got nothing or only a few millimeters of rain. The Grenfell area reported 78 mm, to the east, the Broadview area reported 65 mm and to the west, the Indian Head area reported 30 mm. Many parts of the region received two to 10 mm of rain that did not last long once the heat of the day returned.
Regional topsoil moisture conditions are rated as five per cent surplus, 83 per cent adequate, 10 per cent short and two per cent very short. Hay and pasture land topsoil moisture is rated as four per cent surplus, 77 per cent adequate, 16 per cent short and two per cent very short.
The majority of crop damage this week was due to thunderstorms bringing strong winds and heavy rains that flattened crops in a wide swath as they passed through the region. The storms also resulted in hail with some producers only seeing minor crop damage and others saw fields get completely hailed out. This is a huge loss to those producers in the region who were expecting above average crops. Grasshoppers also continue to play a large role in crop damage. Producers are worried about the amount of eggs being laid and what that will mean for next year’s growing season.
Farmers are busy getting equipment ready, desiccating and swathing crops and combining throughout the some of the region.
