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Cold weather this weekend could make a difficult harvest season even more stressful for Saskatchewan farmers.
Snow and below-zero temperatures are forecast in many parts of the province for this weekend.
Rainy conditions have put harvest behind, and many farmers say snow and frost would make things worse.
Lane Stockbrugger, the chair of SaskCanola, farms near Humboldt. He said moisture is the main reason harvest is behind.
“If in fact we do go through some snow this weekend, it will take longer for the crop to dry down, and to get it to a place where the moisture level is stable, where we’re comfortable with having it in the grain bin,” he said.
“Until it gets anywhere near that, we don’t even have the ability to harvest it.”
However, he said that he’s not overly worried about frost at his farm. Most of his crop has matured enough to make it through the cold.
“It’s less of a concern than two weeks ago. Every day, every week, the canola becomes more mature and is less susceptible to frost damage,” he said.
Below-zero temperatures might not have a major effect on canola, but they could on some pulse crops.
Sherrilyn Phelps is the agronomy manager for Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. She said it takes soy beans and faba beans a while to be ready for harvest.
“Anytime they have higher moisture content or are immature, (frost) causes their cells to burst. Then, you get shrinkage as well as discoloration,” she explained.
Moisture from snow can also be a problem.
“We don’t ever like to see it at this time of year,” Phelps said.
Jeff Hoiness farms grain near Allan. He’s worried about crop quality.
“The barley in the area was just ready to combine when we got that last stretch of wet weather. So, it probably will not make malt; it will be downgraded to feed,” Hoiness said.
Cold weather would make it even worse.
“It makes tough decisions even tougher … You’re trying not to spend any extra money to get the crop off, i.e. drying,” he said. “It really adds a lot more stress.”