A northern businessman says this year’s wild rice crop is below average.

Lynn Riese of Canadian Lakes Wild Rice says flooding devastated many areas of the province’s north.

Particularly hard hit was the central region, including La Ronge, which Riese estimates generated less than 100,000 lbs. of rice.

He adds things looked better in northwest Saskatchewan, which may have generated around 750,000 lbs.

Riese says the Flin Flon area also produced a fair amount of rice.

However, he notes prices haven’t improved from last year, due to existing inventories.

Riese adds the entire crop for the province will likely come in below 1 million lbs.