August is winding down, but harvest is picking up. The latest crop report highlights the productive week farmers in the southeast region had.

Forty-two percent of crops are now in the bin in the southeast part of the province, a massive jump up from 24 percent last week. Harvest is way ahead of the five-year average, which sits at 13 percent for this time of year.

Allie Noble is a crop extension specialist and she says farmers are loving this dry stretch of summer.

“Farmers don't seem to mind it too much, as it means they can keep going in the field. The hot and dry weather has also meant harvest has really progressed in the southeast region,” Noble said. 

Ninety-eight percent of fall rye, 78 percent of the winter wheat,76 percent of field peas, and 74 percent of lentils are in the bin. As well as 36 percent of the barley, 32 percent of durum and 30 percent of the mustard. Spring wheat and canola harvest are just getting going, with 16 and seven percent completed, respectively.

Some light rain showers toward the end of the week of August 21 – 27 slowed down harvest efforts briefly. However, most crop damage from this past week can be attributed to strong winds.

Chris de Winter farms near Lang and says the rain they’re getting now, would have been nice earlier on in the summer.

“We would have liked to see a little more rain this year, it probably would have bumped the yields up a little bit more. I think we’re surprised at how much we’re getting, but it’s kind of nice,” de Winter said.

Harvest will undoubtedly continue to plow ahead as the forecast is calling for more sunny and warm days in the next week or so. As we head into September farmers are way ahead of schedule, and they have no complaints about that.