Rain delays harvest but is still welcomed by producers

Rain, rain go away, the simple nursery rhyme lyrics have been sung throughout the province over the last couple of days.

The skies opened up Tuesday night, leaving much of the province soaked.

For farmers, they are in the home stretch of the harvest season and according to the most recent crop report, harvest across the province is 74% complete.

That is ahead of both the five-year average and the 10-year average.

Tyce Masich, Crop Extension Specialist with the Ministry of Agriculture, said it’s a good thing producers are ahead of schedule.

“That means that farmers still have lots of time before winter hits to get the crop off regardless of what region they are in,” Masich said.

Some areas are even anticipated to finish harvest as soon as next week.

“I would say that (the) southwest will essentially wrap up,” he said. “They’re at 95 per cent completion right now (and) I’m sure they’ll get up to 98, 99 or even 100 per cent completion.”

The northeast is the furthest behind in harvest as that region sits at a 58% completion rate.

Although the rain is delaying some producers during harvest, the wet conditions are welcome.

“This rain is causing delays to harvest, but producers all over the province are embracing the rain,” Masich said. “They like to see that their area is getting rain because a lot of the province was really drying out.”

Masich said some areas won’t see as long of a delay.

“There were some areas that didn’t receive too much rainfall, like the Swift Current and Moose Jaw areas,” he said. “That won’t affect harvest progress in that area too much.”

Other areas that received a lot of rain will see longer delays.

“We’ve seen some rain this past week in many areas of the province,” Masich said. “Which will slow progress this past week and will slow progress again going into this next week.”

Masich estimated that there is still around two to three weeks left in the harvest season.