Early snow hampers harvest in northern Saskatchewan

An early snowfall in parts of Saskatchewan has some farmers  worried about getting their harvests in on time.

“We do not have a whole lot off. Some of the people have a few peas off but I haven’t really heard of anything else coming off yet.” said Dolores Buckingham, who farms in the Rabbit Lake area, northeast of the Battlefords.

She said snow that blew in overnight Sunday and early Monday has been one more challenge in a tough year that’s already seen her area hit with excessive rain and heavy wildfire smoke.

“Even though we may not be able top ge the crop off, our payments are still coming due and it can really destroy a person,” she said.

Buckingham said the worst case scenario if conditions don’t change would be to have to wait until spring to harvest. Or, she said she might find herself out on a combine in the dead of winter.

“We have been known to combine in December. Not that we want to — we’re hoping to get some fair weather here in the next month.”

Wet, cold weather was also concerning to Arthur Brandolino, who farms in the Cloverdale area north of Prince Albert.

He said he was still confident he could get all his canola and wheat off before the snow is here to stay, but the moisture will likely mean a lower grading for his wheat.

“I just looked at it, it was an inch-and-a-half of rain,” Brandolino said. “It doesn’t affect the canola, but it sure affects the wheat.”

In its last crop report issued Sept. 10, the province reported 58 per cent of crops had been combined across Saskatchewan, with progress the furthest along in the southwest,where 82 per cent of crops were in the bin.

Areas in the the north were further behind, with the northeast region reporting 27 per cent of crops combined and the northwest region reporting 16 per cent of crops combined.

— With files from paNOW’s Charlene Tebbutt