WINNIPEG -- It's been one of the rainiest Septembers on record, and all the moisture is playing havoc with farmers ability to harvest their crops.
David James from James Farms Ltd., said the grain and oil seed farm has endured 14 rain events since August 10, and that has poured at least 10 inches of rain onto his fields.
"There's mud and there's water, and there's equipment getting stuck," said James. "And there's an extra cost because productivity is just cut in half."
James said the problems continue once they manage to get the crop off the field. There's an extra cost to dry the grain and the quality may have dropped due to sprouting or mildew.
It’s a problem many farmers across the province have been forced to bear this summer.
"We are way behind on harvest progress this year," said Patty Rosher, General Manager of Keystone Agricultural Producers.
"We're not even at 60 per cent. We should be about three quarters of the way done."
Rosher said farmers are dealing with a cash flow issue since they've invested so much in their fields.
"Farmers would normally be making about 4.2 billion dollars off of their grain sales. So we're going to see a huge impact there if they're not able to get the grain off. Or the grain they do get is not very good quality," said Rosher.
Keystone Agricultural Producers said it will have a good idea about the size of this year’s crop by November.
The quality will take longer to sample and assess.
