Evan Bray: Harvest time brings back memories of home
Evan Bray recently spent some time on his family's farm, helping with harvest. He says it's a special time of year that ...
For a Saskatchewan farmer, this year’s wet conditions are a reminder of how challenging harvest can be.
“You kind of take those easy harvests for granted,” said farmer Glen Munholland. “This one’s reminding us what can happen.”
Munholland farms canola, spring wheat, red lentils and barley near Strasbourg – about 80 km north of Regina – and said this year’s harvest is behind.
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Because of the wet spring, Munholland said he got out in the field two weeks later than usual, though the crops caught up somewhat during a hot July and August.
“At the very start of harvest we had a nice stretch of about a week to 10 days of good harvest weather, and then it’s been kind of on and off rain,” Munholland said. “It’s been a struggle to get dry grain and good quality,” he added, saying muddy fields also made equipment harder to move.
The wet conditions have forced Munholland to make decisions that will keep the harvest moving forward this year. In the spring, he booked a custom combiner after expanding his farm by more than a third this year. He said the decision proved helpful as harvest fell behind.
Munholland also purchased a grain dryer to help out this season.
“They’re very expensive, but I decided that with the way the fall was going, the good options were going to get picked over,” he said.
With the dryer, Munholland can take grain off the field while it still has more moisture and dry it afterwards so it can be stored safely.
Munholland said his “neck of the woods” was hit with a hard frost two nights ago, but at this stage of harvest, it’s no longer a major concern for his crops.
“The small grains like the wheat, canola, and lentils, and peas and all that stuff … none of those crops will really care about the frost,” he said.
Munholland said the frost could have a greater impact on corn grown for silage or grazing.
“The corn would have probably liked another two or three weeks of frost-free days,” he said. “It doesn’t mean it’s a failure, it’s just not maybe as good as it could have been.”
According to Munholland, the wet weather can also hurt crop quality, and wheat has been particularly affected as each round of rain could lower its grade.
So far this year, Munholland said yields have been around average or slightly above average, but continued rain can bring them down and strong winds can cause losses.
Wet weather is especially tough on the quality of wheat and pulses still in the field.
Reflecting on past harvests
This year’s wet conditions bring back memories of particularly challenging harvests for the farmer.
“We had a really tough harvest in 2019, and that was dragged on by rain and snow,” he said.
Some farmers didn’t finish harvest until November that year, according to Munholland, while others were forced to leave crops in the field until spring.
“We’re not late enough to say we’re at 2019 level yet, but also, the ground wasn’t really as soft for us in our area in 2019 as it is now.”
Munholland also remembered 2014 as another difficult harvest when muddy fields made it challenging to move combines.
Looking ahead, Munholland said a stretch of favourable weather could help farmers get harvest back on track.
“Everybody would get done if it just quit raining and (was) sunny and windy and 15 C or warmer,” he said.
“It would make it a lot easier for everybody.”
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