A cool summer and early frosts have reduced the quality of the Prairie wheat harvest. (Canadian Press)A rainy spring followed by a cool, cloudy summer and early frost has taken a toll on wheat harvests across the Prairies as farmers bring in the last of the crops.

Officials with Statistics Canada estimated that wheat production would be down 25 per cent.

"I guess on a scale of one to 10, you know, it'd be a five or a six, as opposed to a one or a two," said Murray Marsh, a mixed grain farmer near Carstairs, Alta., about 50 kilometres north of Calgary.

Despite good yields on most of his crops — including wheat and canola — early frosts lowered the quality, Marsh said. He expected to sell his wheat at about half the price of a top grade product.

"It's feed grade because the frost causes kernels to shrivel. And I haven't heard of a lot of people in our region here that have had wheat quality that will make milling grade," he said.

"I think we'll come out about even. It won't be a boom year, where you might hope to catch up on some debts."

Marsh noted that he is better off than some farmers in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, where heavy rain destroyed many crops in June.

It will be several months before it's clear what impact this year's harvest will have on commodity prices, said Alberta Agriculture crop specialist Harry Brook.

But even if the cost of wheat goes up, consumers shouldn't see that reflected very much at grocery stores.

"If a bushel of wheat goes up two dollars, well, if you get 40 loaves out of a bushel of wheat, that's only five cents more on a loaf of bread," he said.

"But what usually happens is, if bread goes up, it'll go up 10 or 15 cents loaf — and they'll blame the farmers."