Why is Rain Such a Problem at Harvest?

This post was originally written in 2014. It was updated August 2026.

Drought on a farm can be a wonderful thing.

That may raise some eyebrows. But it’s true—during harvest.

I find a lot of weather watchers miss the nuance of timing. When we get a bunch of rain in late August, I see many celebrate it as a win for farmers.

It is not.

Rain raises a whole host of issues for farmers at this time of the year, and is much more than a minor nuisance.

This harvest has been especially difficult so far, with continuous rainy, wet, humid weather plaguing our attempts at combining. Every few days we seem to get more showers, and every night has been frustratingly wet and humid. So, just what does weather like this do to our harvest operations?

• Soggy fields: Combines are exceptionally large and heavy machines. While they are surprisingly capable despite their lumbering look, too much rain will overwhelm their ability to move around in the fields. Worse, the support equipment tends to be less able to manage mud, especially semis. Trucks need to be able to get in and out of our fields without getting stuck, and also need to traverse little, narrow back roads that generally lack gravel. Everything becomes difficult when it’s wet.
• Quality loss: This is arguably the biggest detriment to us in a wet fall. Durum in particular quickly loses its glowing amber colour, which is a major factor when it comes to grading. A downgrade from a #1 durum to a #3 can be worth $1 per bushel or more. Even worse, if the weather stays wet long enough, the crop could downgrade to animal feed. Discounts here can be severe—sometimes up to $3-4 per bushel. Ouch! Lentils, green peas and spring wheat are susceptible as well, and losses can quickly build up in those crops along with the durum.
• Yield loss- Eventually, given enough rain, even tolerant crops like canola can start to lose yield. How does this happen? The constant shrinking and swelling of the seed causes it to lose weight. The lighter each seed gets, the fewer tonnes of grain you end up with at the end of the day. Worse, crops like lentils can drop their seeds on the ground as the pods become brittle.
• Expensive field clean-up: This goes back to the soggy field issue; all those ruts you make with combines, trucks and support equipment must be cleaned up at some point. You’d be amazed how long ruts will hang around if you do nothing with them! This goes right back to basic field tillage, which we usually try to avoid. Tillage burns fuel and uses up iron, and can quickly become a substantial cost.
• Active weather creates more active weather: When we get trapped in these weather patterns, other events can happen, such as hail (which we’ve seen as well this fall), big winds (which can severely damage ripe canola) and even – gulp – snow. Dry airmasses promote quiet, boring weather, which is what we need. Yes, boring is what we want!

Of course, the above problems are really only the beginning… worst-case scenarios are much grimmer. Enough rain for enough time will cause far more severe damage, such as sprouting, which can quickly make cereal crops feed; flooding, ruining hundreds of acres of crops; delayed maturity, which is all fine and good as long as it stays cloudy—but that first clear night can lead to early frosts, further reducing the quality of the crop. While our crops are mostly past this point, other areas are still very much at risk.

Are we trending into a worst-case scenario right now? That all depends on what happens next. A change in the pattern could get us through without too severe of damage. It’s not too late.

All this uncertainty further complicates marketing. How do we know what we can sell? You sell durum based on its quality specifications, which are a total unknown right now. Furthermore, since most of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are facing the same situation, will there be a glut of feed wheat and low-quality durum? Even though misery loves company, if everyone has the same quality of wheat, we have nowhere to haul ours to to blend off with better quality stuff. A burdensome supply of low-quality wheat and durum will be difficult to move as well, which weakens cash flow.

As a farmer, the weather controls much of my life. Weather such as what we are experiencing right now is certainly stressful. It is my job as a farmer to manage my risk so that I can survive to fight another day after events like this, through insurance selection, cash flow management, and so on, but that doesn’t mean it’s without impact. Wet harvest weather is one of the worst challenges for farmers to manage, because there truly is nothing we can do about it. We just have to endure it.

It’s worth mentioning that many farmers have it far worse than we do. Some got hailed out this year, some got droughted out (again) in July, and I’m sure there are many other challenges out there as well. In this industry, someone always has it worse!

Hopefully this gives you a bit of context, though, for why some of your farming friends and neighbours seem just a little grumpier than usual right now. While we try to endure the weather with hope for a brighter tomorrow, sometimes, it can get to us.

This isn’t the first wet harvest we’ve seen—indeed, this is an updated post from 2014, when conditions were similarly miserable—and it won’t be the last. And better weather is coming. It (almost) always does. The combines will roll again and we’ll find that last pass yet this fall.