Gary Coghill of Saskatchewan Agriculture said last weekend’s snowfall has likely put an end to any hopes of crop-drying weather before April.
“It is December and traditionally we don’t see a lot of harvest going on in the last month of the year,” he said.
The department estimates that 500,000 acres remain unharvested in the province due to a combination of poor drying conditions and damaged or devalued grain.
While quality dropped in 2004 due to a slow growing season and an early frost, the volumes of harvested grain exceeded the 10 year production average by nine percent and were 17 percent above 2003 yields.
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“There was more grain of lesser quality, plain and simple,” said Coghill.
In Manitoba, the situation was similar, with damage related to the Aug. 20 frost placing many crops into the sample or feed grades.
Ten percent of canola remains out, with fall rains making late harvest efforts all but impossible. Only 70 percent of sunflowers are in the bin, with both yield and quality below average, say agronomists.
The only beneficiary of the additional moisture and the relatively mild fall seems to have been pastures across the Prairies. Standing forages and hay land are reported to be entering winter in average to well above average condition.
