A wet September damages Prairie wheat and lentil crops

Rain left farmers weeks behind across the Prairies. By Sep 21, Saskatchewan's harvest was 41 per cent done, against a five-year average of 82 per cent.

Damage inspectors found

• Sprouted spring wheat
• Bleached red lentils
• Shrivelled red lentils

At the Canadian Grain Commission in Winnipeg, inspectors found sprouted spring wheat, likely unfit for food grade, and red lentils bleached and shrivelled by the rain.

Share of one farmer's wheat being dried

90 %

A Saskatchewan farmer said he is drying 90 per cent of the wheat he harvested with propane. In a normal year it is about 10 per cent.

And us?

Canada is the world's biggest exporter of durum wheat, canola and pulse crops such as lentils, and poorer crops could tighten global wheat stocks. Official estimates of the damage are due in mid-November.