Farmers across Saskatchewan are facing delays in their harvest progress, with the province reporting 41 per cent of crops are in the bin – well behind the five-year average of 82 per cent.

The delay in harvest operations are mainly due to rainfall, humidity and wet field conditions, according to the province’s latest crop report for Sept. 15 to 21.

The southwest is reported to have completed 67 per cent of its harvest, followed by the west-central region at 45 per cent, the southeast at 38 per cent, and the east-central areas of the province at 29 per cent.

Sitting at the bottom of the report is the northwest at 26 per cent and the northeast at 24 per cent completion.

John Kotylak, who farms mostly canola and wheat in the Balcarres area, said he is around 32 per cent done his harvest. Although behind, he credits his progress so far to his grain dryer, noting the wet conditions have dragged the entire process out.

“Not much dry grain has been taken off. It’s all gone through the dryer,” Kotylak told CTV News Thursday morning, as he waited for the fog to clear up before heading out in the field.

“If you do get a day here or there then, you are progressing, but those days are few and far between this year.”

Kotylak said he had 60 per cent of his crops off the field at this time last year. However, the constant humidity has continuously interrupted this year’s progress.

“We were doing some fall pre-work on other fields whereas this year we’re moving grain every day, from the wet bins into the dryer, from the dry bins into bigger bins,” Kotylak explained.

“Your days, it’s not just fill up the combines fix whatever, you’re going from when the sun comes up till the sun goes down.”

The crop report accounts for winter cereals, pulses and spring-seeded cereal crops of harvest progress, with winter cereal harvest reporting to be nearly complete.

Overall crop damage still unclear, says specialist

Wet field conditions throughout the season have played a role into the delay of harvest, according to Kim Stonehouse, a crops extension specialist with the Ministry of Agriculture.

“We had slow progress at seeding time due to the late warm up and high snowfall from last year that created an excessive amount of runoff when it happened all at once, which delayed seeding,” Stonehouse explained.

“Then, that would have pushed back maturity and of course then that leads to a later harvest.”

This week’s report also outlines the damage to crops were caused by flooding and wind, with some reports of low-lying areas lost to water accumulation.

“We won’t know the extent of this damage until the crop is in the bin,” Stonehouse said.

“The crops that are laying in the field are affected adversely by high moisture conditions, particularly when we have rainfall and whatnot. That causes downgrading of cereals as well as sprouting of crops.”

He added there has been cases of sprouting in canola and lentils.

Moist conditions remain as the top concern for Kotylak. If a crop’s moisture levels are over a certain percentage, quality degrades and buyers will not take it.

“It’s going to be a tough year to move this crop because the south doesn’t typically have dry grain this year. Other years we’ve shipped grain to Moose Jaw because south of Moose Jaw, everything coming in is dry,” he explained.

“We’ve got, let’s say 15 [per cent] wheat, well they can blend it with the stuff south, but this year we don’t have.”

“Everybody’s got the same problem,” he added.

With temperatures expected to rise this weekend, Stonehouse said he is hopeful for next week’s crop report.

“The higher temperatures that we’ve experienced over this last weekend and into this week have helped farmers progress considerably and moving towards the finish line,” he said.

“… Next week there will be a report, I’m hoping that the numbers will be well beyond what they are right now.”