Each day that passes is one day closer to harvest in Saskatchewan. Some have started while others continue to wait.
For example, one farmer in the Rosetown area says he was about to begin harvesting lentils last week, but a half-inch of rain put it on hold for a few days.
But Stuart Lawrence admitted there won't be much of a lentil crop as it was heavily affected by heavy rainfall in June, resulting in aphanomyces root rot and Fusarium root rot.
"Unfortunately, they're probably in the neighbourhood of about 40 per cent of the crop damaged and there'll be zero bushels to the acre there." said Lawrence, adding they also had bertha army worms and had to spray insecticide.
The wet start to the season also delayed herbicide and fungicide applications, so they "ended up scrambling", he said.
"So it was quite a bit of a challenge to get it all done in a timely fashion," Lawrence added. "We actually did have to call in an airplane so that we could buy some capacity and and get some fungicide put on canola while we were trying to do other herbicides.”
Other crops Lawrence will be combining this year include canola, durum, malt barley, and Kabuli chickpeas.
Elsewhere, a farmer in the Nokomis area figures he is still a few weeks away.
Brett Halstead says wheat is about two weeks from being ready, noting "there's good colour change in it, but also still lots of green in it, too."
Regarding canola, Halstead said it needs another three weeks of development as it "varies quite a bit in our area."
"We had a lot of rain in June and early July, and now we're getting some re-flowering on some fields. So some of those have started flowering in places again, while other ones are done flowering but still fairly green." he said.
While Halstead didn't plant lentils this year, he noted others in his area have and "some of them have multiple colours in the field", so it could be another two weeks before they mature.
Meanwhile in the Mossbank area in southern Saskatchewan, Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel says they're about one week to ten days away from starting.
"Everything is coming along quite well. I would say the fields are relatively even for the most part with the exception of some fields that we got hail damaged." Jolly-Nagel said, noting the plants did regrow and is hopeful to get a good yield.
"I think it'll be a bit of a back and forth this year. We're going to have to have a lot of extra patience and really choose the fields wisely, those that are ready at the time," she said. "So yeah, lots of decisions yet to be made once we get in the field."
Jolly-Nagel said there was no issue with insects or disease this year, adding her area received a good amount of moisture.
All three producers indicated they still have to prepare before starting harvest, from servicing equipment, to cleaning grain bins, to organizing a work schedule for those who will help them during the season.
