On drives in the agricultural lands north of Assiniboia and East of Woodrow in late September, motorists will notice the majority of the fields in these districts are combined, or are about to be harvested, as the month of September draws to a close.
Despite the pandemic, an adverse world market for agriculture, along with trade wars between Canada, China and the U.S. and so on, there’s positive news as the harvest in much of South Central Saskatchewan has moved along with strength in September 2020.
The dry weather in the late summer and autumn brought rapid progress to this year’s harvest.
The crop report from the provincial government for the Southwest areas of the province, including the Assiniboia region, indicated an abundance of cooperative weather this year – with the picture being very different for agriculture at the same time last year in 2019.
“Huge progress was made in the region with week, with 90 per cent of the crop now in the bin. This is up from 71 per cent last week and well ahead of the five-year (2015-2019) average of 65 per cent. An additional seven per cent of the crop is swathed or ready to straight-cut,” said a Crop Report for Southwest Saskatchewan from early to mid-September.
Last year, September’s harvest schedule lagged in comparison, as seen when recalling a less than cheerful 2019 Crop Report from September 17-23.
“A stretch of warm and relatively dry weather allowed most producers to return to the field and resume harvest operations last week, according to Saskatchewan Agriculture’s weekly Crop Report. Thirty-nine per cent of the crop is now in the bin, up from 23 per cent last week, but remaining well behind the five-year (2014-2018) average of 62 per cent for this time of year. Crops have been slow to mature and dry down due to frequent showers. Much of the crop harvested so far is tough and is being put into grain dryers and aeration bins.”
Although the harvest of 2019 experienced a dry September for a spell, the weather often proved to be a challenge with rainy periods throughout the late summer and fall. Old Man Winter even dropped in on September 29, 2019.
A report from the Assiniboia Times in September 2019 read:
Assiniboians awoke to a wintry morning as September drew to a close on Sunday, September 29 with blowing snow and the risk of freezing rain later in the afternoon. A total of 10-15 cm of snow fell on Assiniboia during early Sunday morning, as the wind blew in from the northeast at 40 kilometres per hour with gusts rising to 60 kilometres. A windchill dipping to -8 C was predicted for Sunday overnight, after more periods of blowing snow mixed with strong northeast winds were expected to arrive to chill off south central Saskatchewan.
The snow in late September 2019 was blamed on an intense low-pressure system hanging over the northwestern United States, which shifted in a northeast direction, spreading snow into southern Saskatchewan.
The Crop Report from September 15-21 reported this year’s warm and dry conditions enabled farmers in Saskatchewan to advance ahead in the days before autumn arrived in 2020, although rainfall over the weekend from September 19-20 in South Central Saskatchewan created delays for some producers.
Other areas of the province received rainfall this past weekend, especially in Saskatchewan’s western and northern districts. However, the Tyner area in the Southwest received the highest amount of rain from September 15-21 with 99 mm reported.
With September coming to an end, many local producers are the post-harvest stage, hoping for rains to restore the topsoil and subsoil before winter’s arrival.
Harvest is said to be the most advanced in the Saskatchewan’s Southwest region, where 96 per cent of the crop has been combined. Meanwhile, Southeast Saskatchewan had 89 per cent of their crops combined. The West Central area of the province had 78 per cent of all crops combined and East Central Saskatchewan had 69 per cent combined in late September.
This year, the northern regions of Saskatchewan experienced significant amounts of rain, dramatically affecting this year’s harvest in the province’s upper half. In the northeast, 51 per cent of the crops were harvested and the northwest region had 43 per cent of their crops stored in the bin after September’s second last week passed.
In Saskatchewan as a whole, 99 per cent of lentils, 98 per cent of field peas, 95 per cent of durum, 86 per cent of barley, 77 per cent of chickpeas, 74 per cent of spring wheat, 71 per cent of oats, 61 per cent of canola and 52 per cent of flax were combined.
An additional 35 per cent of canola was swathed or ready to straight-cut towards the end of this month.
Provincial cropland topsoil moisture was rated as 37 per cent adequate, 39 per cent short and 24 per cent very short. In addition, hay and pasture land topsoil moisture statistics were rated as 27 per cent adequate, 38 per cent short and 35 per cent very short.
The majority of crop damage across the province this fall comprised of a range of problems, such as wind, frost, waterfowl, wildlife and lack of moisture.
Heavy rains in some areas of Saskatchewan initiated crop lodging, when stems of grain crops are forced to bend over to ground level.
Fields affected by crop lodging are difficult to harvest and their expected yields are diminished.
