Another stretch of poor weather and conditions had farmers sitting on their hands for much of the week. Although producers in the southeast still sit ahead of the five-year average, they would like to get the crop off the field before quality continues to degrade. 

Crop Extension Specialist, Shannon Friesen, released the Saskatchewan Government's weekly Crop Report from September 25 to October 1.

"For the most part fields remain quite wet in some areas. Even though 89 percent of the crop is combined, that's really only an increase of two percent from last week," she said. 

What's left to be harvested is crops such as flax, canola, some soybeans, and some cereals as well.

The province as a whole has 73 percent of harvest complete, now slightly behind the five-year average of 78 percent. Despite the minimal gains to be made in the last few weeks, the southeast area is still way ahead compared to the rest of Saskatchewan.  

"The southwest always tends to lead and they have 90 percent of the crop now combined. The west-central region only has 62 percent, the central region just 61 percent. The northeast has 45 percent and the northwest only has 33 percent combined," Friesen said.

Most areas are well behind the five-year-average and even the 10-year average in some cases. Friesen said there's not much they can do, and Agriculture is a weather-dependent industry.  

"What we are hoping for, of course, fingers crossed, is that the weather improves and that we're able to get into the field and get the rest of the crop off. Hopefully before freeze up and before winter really sets in," she said.

With snow expected to fall again over the weekend, it appears this early blast of winter is here to stay for a little while more. It isn't unusual to see an early snowfall around this time of year, but it typically doesn't hang around for too long. Farmers do appreciate the snow once they've completed their harvest, but it's a little early yet for them. 

"Although we always need moisture to replenish what we lost over the summertime, we would prefer it to be a bit drier out, so producers are able to get back out into the field and able get the crop off."