By News

Sun setting on local harvest operations

Nov 15, 2016 | 1:56 PM

Farmers in the Prince Albert and Shellbrook areas are in a race with mother nature.
 
Nearly 15 per cent of the crop remains in the ground, weeks behind the harvest deadline.
 
Shannon Friesen, a crops specialist with the Ministry of Agriculture, said the warmer weather has been nice, but cooler temperatures are needed to help harden the wet fields.
 
“Sun and wind are probably not going to help too much so it would be nice for the ground to start freezing so some of those wet fields can be accesssed by equipment,” she said.

Farmers may get their wish as overnight temperatures expected to dip below zero the next few nights
 
Provincially, 90 per cent of the crop has been combined, up from 82 percent in the last crop report issued on October 27th.

Friesen said there is still lots of hope farmers can wrap up harvest.
 
“Certainly we wiould have liked this (weather) a month ago but we will take anything of anything we can get,” Friesen said.
 
Eugene Matwishyn farms ten miles south of Prince Albert.
 
He had 500 acres left prior to the snow falling and expects to wrap up his harvest Tuesday.
 
“Cereals were deteriorated, canola fared a little better, but everything will have to be dried,” he said.
 
Matwishyn said the wet fields took a toll on his combine but all-in-all he is happy to get the crop out of the ground.
 

nmaxwell@panow.com
 
On Twitter: @princealbertnow