Farm group leaders are not only in charge of their respective organizations, but are also producers themselves.
The Chairperson of the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission Brett Halstead farms in the Nokomis area, north of Regina. Vice President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture Todd Lewis farms near the hamlet of Gray, south of the Queen City.
Both are – literally – in the middle of harvest, as both say they’re 50 percent done. Halstead says he has “a little bit of wheat left, then mostly canola after that”. Lewis says he’s done harvesting lentils, and will finish up the durum wheat crop; canary seed and canola are left to combine.
“We’re rolling along pretty good and really the weather has been pretty good this fall.” Lewis said, but couldn’t say the same thing about the weather throughout the entire growing season. He explained they were too wet until the beginning of June, then dry from mid-June until the third week of August when the rain returned, and was currently dealing with smoke from the wildfires in the Northwest Territories, affecting the crops ability to dry.
“We’ve been dealing with high humidity, small rains, and fog some mornings and days so it’s been a slow dry down, but when we get a chance we make progress the best we can.” Halstead said of the weather in his area.
Regarding crop yields, Halstead says they’ve been “a little above average and plenty pleased with them”, while Lewis says his yields have been average at best.
Lewis’ durum yields are about 55 bushels an acre and the yield on lentils somewhere in the 20s.
