Farmers making progress, but harvest still behind

Farmers in Saskatchewan continued to make progress in the fields this week, but overall, harvest continues to lag behind.

This week’s crop report shows 69 per cent of harvest is complete. That’s up from 55 per cent last week, but still behind the five-year average of 88 per cent for this time of year.

Steve Donald farms near Moosomin. He said his operation is about half done getting the crops off the field.

“We can’t complain about the yields, but when the quality isn’t there, and the price isn’t there, we’re going to call it average to below average,” he said.

Mallory Scott farms near Landis, and said she needs another three to four days to wrap things up.

“People are really happy with their yields — quality isn’t top notch — but it’s OK in some of the fields, so we’ll call that a win … win-ish,” Scott said.

Saskatchewan Agriculture said crop damage this past week was due to lodging, strong winds and localized flooding and frost. Geese and wildlife have also been causing damage by feeding on the swathed crops.