As the warm, dry weather continues into early October, the last few crops are finishing their growing season and will be finished off soon to complete harvesting for 2001 in the Weyburn area.

There is approximately three to four per cent of crops still out in the fields, said extension agrologist Elaine Moats, mostly comprised of flax, late canola, chickpeas and sunflowers, along with some canaryseed.

The canola crops still in the field have a high green content or chlorophyll, and the dryness has not helped to remove that chlorophyll out at all.

"Rain might make a difference in cleaning up some of the green canola," said Moats.

This doesn't mean farmers are wishing for rain just now, she added, saying most producers would prefer to have the sunshine continue until they can get all of their crops off before winter weather arrives.

The results of the harvest have varied widely, with some farmers seeing a variance within their own farming operations; if a particular field received rain at the right time earlier in the growing season, they yielded well, while other fields yielded below average.

Wheat and durum crops generally graded above average, helped by the long dry spell in August, but fusarium head blight downgraded some of the wheat crop in the east and southeast part of this district.

For those farmers involved with field work, many are currently baling straw or hauling bales, but haven't really begun fall fertilizing yet.

"As it's so dry and the ground hasn't cooled down yet, really they aren't doing too much with fall fertilizing. Growing conditions are poor enough that some people are hesitating to spray for thistles," said Moats, adding that weeds are dying off due to the dry conditions.

With much of the 2001 harvest in the bin, farmers should be monitoring the temperature and condition of the grain, said Moats.

"They particularly need to keep an eye on grain that went in the bin on hot days," she added, noting steel bins tend to keep grain temperatures up more so than wooden bins do.