MOOSE JAW - Rain this past week helped recharge cement-like soil but delayed harvest across Saskatchewan with one-quarter left in the field.
Delays will last one to three days depending on rain amounts which varied from small showers to over two inches. Fewer hours of sunlight to dry fields will make the wait longer.
Cereal crops and crops in the swath will see reduced quality from the rain.
Moose Jaw escaped loss of quality as 98 per cent of the harvest was complete by Sept. 16, according to the Saskatchewan Agriculture weekly crop report.
Across the province, 74 per cent was done with the northeast lagging at 58 per cent.
All major crops were between 81 per cent and 100 per cent completed, with the exception of canola, 47 per cent; oats, 73 per cent; canary seed, 49 per cent; and flax, 33 per cent.
The rains will help put a bit of moisture reserve in the soil for next year's crop.
The moisture situation is poor with 41 per cent of crop land adequate and 59 per cent short or very short.
Pasture land moisture conditions are rated 26 per cent adequate and the rest is short or very short.
In the southwest, only nine per cent of pastures are adequate in moisture with 91 per cent short or very short.
