Snow no help for Saskatchewan farmers

It’s no secret that this has been a very frustrating harvest season for Saskatchewan farmers.

Early in the growing season they dealt with drought. Then when the rain finally came, it seemingly didn’t stop.

Now harvest is way behind schedule because many producers can’t get in their wet fields.

Kevin Hursh, a farmer and agriculture consultant, says this snowfall couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“It’s going to stall harvest for a week – or two weeks in some areas – and really put it behind, continue to downgrade the quality and it’s a large enough area and a large enough delay that the quality loss is actually changing the marketplace in some respects,” he said.

Hursh said there will likely be a flood of feed grains now because of lower-graded quality due to the moisture and delays.

He also says this latest setback will hit many producers hard financially.

“A loss of grade means a loss of dollars to producers, plus many producers in the central and northern grain belt will now be spending a lot more money than usual drying grain, because it’s going to come off tough and damp,” said Hursh.

Hursh said adding to the problem is getting the grain moved once it’s finally combined.

“Because the crop is so late, grain movement has actually been very slow throughout September,” Hursh said. “The railways are providing the cars that shippers are asking for but there isn’t a lot of grain available. It’s still in the field.

“(It’s) certainly not good timing for the first snowfall of the season.”