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Harvest spread out a bit
Tisdale - Tuesday, September 3, 2013
by:Timothy W. Shire

As you plant, so shall you harvest - the spring planting in 2013 was somewhat more extended than in most years. Even in the immediate local area around Tisdale, the crops were not planted at the same time, or even in the same week, but actually over almost a full month. As a result, this year’s harvest is very gradual and diverse.

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Down in the south west part of the province, usually the desert area, this year’s crop was outstanding and in the Shaunavon area almost complete. Along most of highway 16, the Yellowhead, things are barely getting underway, as that area was extremely late in getting their crops in the ground. In this part of Saskatchewan, Nipawin is well ahead of Carrot River and Tisdale, as we saw many fields finished up near Nipawin and swathing getting underway around Carrot River. Right around Tisdale, there is a little of everything.

Yesterday, as I drove around Tisdale to capture the pictures you see on this page, I saw two fields already worked up, harvest done and the fall worked all but finished. Most crops are either swathed, or in the process and I saw two combines in the field, but could not get a picture because they were hidden in dust clouds.

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The freakish weather patterns have made for some complications. Though cool throughout July, August has been excellent and at this time of the year, the first week of September, the nights should be cooling down and the days only about 20º C each day, but that is not the case. Ih has been very warm the last few days and this is a real problem for the ripening Canola, which is finishing off to quickly and though the crop stands tall and the swaths are huge, the pods are not full.

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The cereal crops are looking very good, but some farmers are concerned about some weeds that will produce some dockage. However, from these pictures, it looks like there is a good sized crop about to be harvested.

Although the railroads are intently busy hauling oil, grain cars are being spotted at the various terminals anticipating the pattern farmers followed last year, when most of the crop was taken directly from the field to the terminals. This is because the prices are stable and not volatile, so instead of putting the crop in the bins and waiting to see what the markets are doing, the farmers are moving the stuff directly from the combine to the market place.

The details are not all that clear, but it appears that the freedom in the market place, created by the removal of the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly over wheat and barley, is not working out quite as expected by the federal government. More than 60% of Saskatchewan farmers supported the Wheat Board and wanted to see its role remain as it was, with the single desk marketing approach and my informal sampling seems to indicate that those farmers are doing what they have done for decades and are electing to market their product with the Wheat Board, knowing full well the benefits outweigh the risk taking, going it on your own involves and besides, most farmers simply do not have the time to go about researching and doing the whole marketing business on their own. From here, it looks like the Prime Minister and his minister of Agriculture read things wrong.

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