Downpours throughout Saskatchewan slow 2024 harvest

The rain did keep some farmers out of their fields, but it also helped pasture and topsoil moisture conditions.

With “notable rainfall” like 49 mm of rain in Indian Head, 48 mm in the Marsden area and 42 mm in the Milden area, many farmers had to briefly pause their harvest and wait for the wind to die down and the weather to clear, according to the province’s weekly crop report.

Watch: Harvest in Saskatchewan

However, harvest still progressed 13 per cent provincewide since last week, and is now 74 per cent complete.

That includes all of Saskatchewan’s winter wheat, triticale and field pea crops for 2024, while lentil and fall rye crops are also “very close to wrapping up,” the crop report says.

Meanwhile, “many producers are currently working to get canola crops harvested (while) flax and soybeans are the furthest behind in harvest progress,” with just one quarter of this year’s soybeans currently harvested.

Harvest progress on September 16, 2024

Southwestern Saskatchewan is already in the final stage of harvest, with 95 per cent of crops already brought in, while northeastern Saskatchewan is more than halfway done.

Producers are still working hard to swath and combine crops,” the report notes. “As we move into the later stages of harvest, more producers will be focused on post-harvest weed control, storing grain and hauling bales.”

Though torrential downpours kept some farmers out of their fields, the rain also helped pasture and topsoil moisture conditions.

Watch: How cropland topsoil moisture conditions changed in 2024

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