West-central harvest 97 per cent complete

By Your Southwest Media Group

Farmers in western Saskatchewan have almost finished harvesting their 2026 crop.

They reported good pulse and oilseed yields, with those for cereals “generally aligned with provincial averages” in spite of certain “moisture challenges” during the year, said the provincial Agriculture Department’s regional report for the week ending Oct. 12.

West-central farmers still had to combine five per cent of their canola and canary seed, four per cent of the durum, three per cent of the oats and flax and two per cent of their spring wheat, the report showed.

Yields averaged 55 bushels per acre for hard red spring wheat, 50 for durum, 41 for canola, 74 for oats, 70 for barley, 30 for flax and 42 for peas, along with 1,278 pounds per acre for lentils, 1,314 pounds for mustard and 2,275 pounds for chickpeas.

Little rain fell, with 10 millimetres in the Rural Municipality of Webb, southwest of Swift Current, and three in St. Andrews and Fertile Valley.

That left topsoil moisture on cropland at 90 per cent adequate and 10 per cent short, and on hay and pasture land at about one per cent surplus, 87 per cent adequate and 12 per cent short.

Around the province, “rain and snow over the weekend” interrupted harvesting in many areas, leaving farmers with seven per cent of their fields to combine.

Those in the southwest were 98 per cent finished, west-central 97 per cent, east-central and northwest 91 per cent, and northeast and southeast 89 per cent.

Yields were “at or above historical averages for most crop types,” the report said.