The past week has been a hot and dry harvest time. Many producers across the southwest are now in one of their busiest times.
In the southwest region, 17% of this year's crop is now in the bin, according to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. This is much higher than the overall provincial average of five percent. In most cases, northern Saskatchewan farmers are still waiting one or two more weeks to get started.
As of August 15th, 36% of the winter wheat in the province had been harvested and 22% of the fall rye, 24% of lentils, and 24% of peas.
Southwest and central producers have reported below-average yields in many instances. Much of these losses are currently being attributed to grasshopper devastation. In order to prevent further grasshopper damage, some producers harvested ahead of schedule in order to save their crop as much as possible.
Because grasshoppers thrive in hot, dry climates, they have been mainly concentrated in the southwest corner of the province this year. Other areas, such as the southeast and the northern regions, expect better results due to higher moisture levels.
"Grasshoppers have caused significant crop damage all season, and producers who are now harvesting report they are dealing with plugged equipment from harvesting fields infested with this pest which creates delays and will require them to clean their seed" read the Ministry's crop report earlier this week.
Several southwestern producers have shared that they have lost the battle to grasshoppers in some of their fields, having sprayed multiple times this growing season. Grasshopper numbers are higher than in the past several years in parts of the southwest between Assiniboia and Swift Current. For some organic producers, grasshoppers have meant total crop insurance write-off in some cases.
At this point, it's too early to tell what the average provincial yield will be, but many other regions expect to see average or above average yields.
