A wild rice expert says this year’s harvest in northern Saskatchewan could hit three million pounds.
Bill Plunz, the former manager of the La Ronge Wild Rice Corporation, says that would be an improvement over last year when roughly 1.85 million lbs. was harvested.
Plunz notes much of north-central Saskatchewan experienced crop failure last year, resulting in a meagre harvest of 50,000 lbs in that region.
He says he has seen some of the rice already, and the quality looks good:
“It’s as good as I’ve seen for awhile. And that happens when you have reduced water levels and good sunshine to ripen it up. And that’s what we had through mid-August.”
Plunz adds he has heard some early speculation that producers could fetch between $0.70/lb. and $0.80/lb., which would be fairly normal.