A farmer in the Randolph area says he is hoping to resume combining as early as Tuesday of this week. Jason Rempel of Rempelco Acres says this year they are growing their usual mix of wheat, barley, canola, corn, and soybeans. He notes though most of their acres are in the Randolph area, they are also growing crops near Zhoda and Pansy. Rempel says they have about 70 per cent of the harvest completed this year. He notes the wheat and barley are all in the bin, as well as most of their canola crop. Rempel says though yields were variable, they were average to slightly above average. "We had some drier conditions around some of the peak growing times, but overall, we're quite happy with the yield, considering the year," he says. "And the quality is quite good as well." Rempel says the 30 per cent still to be harvested includes all of their grain corn, approximately half of their soybeans, and some canola. "I have one field of canola that just has a little bit left on it," he says. "But it's located near Mitchell and very, very wet, so we've been getting stuck there." Rempel says they opted to leave their canola standing this year. And even though some of the crop has lodged a bit, he notes the quality is still there. He adds it is also not suffering from being saturated and guesses the plants will dry fairly quickly. Rempel says the corn and soybeans still in the field are also faring very well. "We've been very happy with the quality of the soybeans that we've been getting off," he says. "So far, everything is still looking very good." Rempel says if we continue the trend of cool and wet weather, there might be some degrading of the grain corn crop, if mould starts to set in. Though yields are good, Rempel admits that it has been a challenging harvest. He notes at their home base north of Randolph they received about an inch and a quarter of rain this last weekend. However, the previous big rain event dropped about 5.5 inches. Rempel says all of that rain has been particularly tough on that one last remaining field of canola near Mitchell. Rempel says this is not the first harvest that they have had to deal with excess moisture, and so they have aftermarket tracks for their combine. Because of that, he is guessing that after some sunshine and wind on Monday, they might be able to resume harvest on Tuesday afternoon, or Wednesday at the latest. "We'll be working at whatever is dry enough that we can start harvesting," he adds. Rempel says harvest for them the rest of the way will be done on a field-by-field basis. He notes that some of their fields have very solid, heavy clay that is slippery and sticky. Yet, those fields can carry heavy equipment. However, some fields are lighter and sandier, and if a combine hits a soft spot, even with tracks on, the machine can sink to its belly. Rempel says there are some fields where the best-case scenario might be to wait until freeze-up, and hope for no snow, in order to combine those fields as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Rempel says a big thank you to all of the motorists who have been patient this harvest while sharing the roadways with farm equipment. He notes they are trying to do the best they can, while also attempting to keep the roads as clean as possible. "We're doing our best and we're going to get that stuff cleaned up as soon as we possibly can," he assures. "Everybody that we've encountered on the road has been very patient when we've been using equipment, and that's really appreciated. So, we hope everybody stays safe out there." Rempel says farmers are just as anxious as commuters to have the harvest wrapped up and machinery off the roads.