A few days of warmer weather was welcomed by farmers hurrying to get their crops off before frost becomes a concern - but the warm weather didn't erase the effects of moisture damage from last week.

While harvest operations resumed for some area farmers, a couple of days for aeration and drying of crops was needed in many cases.

"There is mildew, mold and sprouting in both standing and swathed crops," said Terry Karwandy of Sask. Ag and Food. "The loss in quality is a really big concern; there's a lot of frustration."

Crop quality estimates dropped significantly during the past week, with the per cent of crop grading No. 1 expected to decline further as more is harvested.

As of Monday, combining progress in the Weyburn crop district was the lowest reported in the southern half of the province, at 32 per cent complete. In the extreme southwest, 91 per cent of the crop is in the bin.

The harvest of winter wheat and fall rye is all but complete in the Weyburn area, and significant progress has been made on the local pea crop with 76 per cent in the bin, on canola at 65 per cent complete, on lentils at 62 per cent harvested, on mustard at 61 per cent harvested, and on barley at 51 per cent finished.

These crops should grade higher as the majority of them were taken off before excess moisture took its toll, Karwandy said.

The same could not be said for spring and durum wheat at just 20 per cent combined. Oats are 21 per cent harvested, flax is three per cent harvested, and just two per cent of the chickpea crop is in the bin - which could become a problem as temperatures dip.

Seeding of fall rye and winter wheat crops continues. Farmers are also desiccating, summer fallowing and bailing straw.

While crop damage during the past week was largely restricted to the weather, saw flies, grasshoppers, aphids and lygus bugs are also causing problems in various areas of the province. Damage from big game and water fowl is becoming more evident, with a surprising twist. Bears are reported to be eating oats and making beds in fields in Crop District 1a, which encompasses the Moosimin area.

Karwandy says this is the first time she's ever heard of bears damaging crops, and while there aren't a lot of them, the big animals can do some damage by shoving stalks of grain together to form a kind of stook, and chomping the heads off.