Poor Wild Rice Forecast Now a Reality

Poor Wild Rice Forecast Now a Reality

Monday, October 04, 2004 at 14:52

An agrologist in northern Saskatchewan says it looks like only a half-million pounds of wild rice will be harvested in the North this year.

In recent years, the harvest has been anywhere from 4-and-a-half to 5-and-a-half million pounds.

Gerry Ivanochko says cool, wet weather, high water levels and strong winds during harvest just did too much damage to the crop.

Ivanochko says the half-million pounds of wild rice might go down as the worst harvest ever.

Ivanochko says wild rice crops were down all over the country.

And, as bad as things were in this province, he says Saskatchewan may have had the best showing in Canada.