Prairie farmers have been battling to get their crops harvested after incessant rain this growing season. (CBC)

Manitoba farmers contending with soaking fields after a deluge of recent rain are taking a different track for this year's harvest.

Instead of using standard-issue tires on combines, some farmers have turned to using wide rubber tracks — similar to those on a bulldozer — to traverse their wet, muddy fields and get at their crops before it's too late.

Time is of the essence, said canola farmer Craig Riddell of Warren, Man.

"Things are ripe and ready to be harvested and the land is saturated to the point where it won't support our equipment," Riddell said.

"Once [the canola crop] dries out, it will just shatter and you'll lose it on the ground," he said. "So that would be the one you want to get out … as soon as possible."

Last week, the Canadian Wheat Board estimated that 4.2 million hectares of Prairie farmland weren't planted and another one million hectares were ruined shortly after seeding because of widespread flooding this summer.

Analysts from BMO Capital Markets said in early August that the flooding could end up costing the farming industry as much as $3 billion.

'You hope the frost doesn't come.'—Provincial meteorologist Andy Nadler

Riddell said he's got his combine stuck in the muck several times this year. He said freeing it can be complex, dangerous and sometimes expensive should something on the machine break.

"Any time you start pulling on it — something that is as complex as a combine — you don't want to start bending things. But it can certainly happen if you get stuck bad enough," Riddell said.

A meteorologist employed by Manitoba's Agriculture Department said Wednesday that if farmers' crops aren't harvested by late September, they'll likely have to contend with frost.

"It's not like the gardener that can go cover their tomatoes," said Andy Nadler. "Really, there is not a lot that can be done. You hope the frost doesn't come."

Retrofitting tracks on a combine means the cost of harvesting crops will rise, Riddell said.