With the wild weather that we’ve experienced in south central Saskatchewan this summer, it has made for varying crop conditions depending on where you are. 

According to Saskatchewan Agriculture, south of Moose Jaw towards the Gravelbourg and Mossbank areas down to the Fir Mountain area have seen drier conditions compared to counterparts to the east towards Ogema. 

Crop extension specialist Matthew Struthers said some areas that saw drier conditions could be looking at an early harvest. 

“Hopefully, there's something to harvest at least in a lot of those areas. It's been so dry that pods might or might not have filled as much as we'd hoped. So hopefully, the moisture had come at the right time, and there's something there at harvest and they'll make out okay,” Struthers said. 

Struthers said we could see some producers begin harvest as early as this week, going into next week. 

“Especially now in the Gravelbourg area, I was down there a few weeks ago, and there's already lentils that were turning and starting to mature and ripen quite quickly, just due to the dryness and the heat. And then also, you know, they've started to desiccate down there,” Struthers said. 

However, when there is rain and thunderstorms there is inevitably hail, which will damage crops. 

Struther said he’s mainly seen hail damage on the western side of Lake Diefenbaker in the Lucky Lake and Beechy areas. 

“There was quite a bit of hail damage that went through and quite a few crops have been cut down to nothing and written off. So, it's very unfortunate to see especially this time of year when harvest is just around the corner and it gets cut short and destroyed by the Great White combine,” he said. 

You can keep up with the latest crop conditions on the Agriculture Saskatchewan website.