After a summer that brought both flooded fields and dry stretches, some Saskatchewan producers are entering harvest with one eye on the crop and the other on the forecast.
Ryan Scragg, a farmer about 20 minutes east of Prince Albert, said crops in his area are looking “relatively good,” but earlier wet weather still left a mark on some fields.
Scragg farms with his family and grows canola, wheat, barley, oats and peas. He is also an Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan director for District 5 and Reeve of the RM of Garden River.
He said early-season rain caused flooding on some farmland, and those areas are not expected to recover this year.
“We do have a significant amount of farmland that was flooded in the early season rains,” Scragg said. “Significant crop damage and yield loss occurred from those rains.”
Scragg said a longer dry stretch through July hurt yield potential in some areas, but it also helped dry out wet fields and should make harvest access easier.
The latest provincial crop report said crops continue to mature across Saskatchewan, while cooler weather slowed harvest progress and crop development in some areas. Provincial harvest progress was listed at two per cent complete for the period from Aug. 4 to 10, largely limited to cereal and early-seeded pulse crops.
For Scragg, peas are expected to be the first crop harvested.
“We should be starting to harvest our peas within the next week here, which is about normal time for us to start,” he said. “Our other crops like the wheat and canola are still several weeks away.”
The recent rain has not made a major difference for his farm, Scragg said, because most crops are now at a stage where producers want ripening weather.
“The recent rains, we’re into the point of the season now where the rain is almost too late to help,” he said. “It’s at the point where now we want the crop to start ripening up.”
He said canola is the exception, because it can still use moisture later in the season. Cereal and pulse crops, however, would benefit from drier conditions now.
Scragg said crop quality remains good, but that can change quickly if rain continues closer to harvest.
“Crop quality really is more about the last two weeks prior to harvest,” he said. “If we get more rain between now and harvest time, that’s when you start to lose crop quality.”
Doug Oleksyn, who farms halfway between Shellbrook and Prince Albert, said crops on his farm are also looking good. His farm is mainly grain, with some cattle.
“The crops look good,” Oleksyn said.
He said they are inspecting canola for insects and preparing barley for harvest. His farm received about half an inch of rain recently after not receiving rain since the first week of July.
Oleksyn said the wet start was not a major problem on his farm and was a “pleasant surprise” after last year’s dry conditions, although there were more slough areas and land holding water.
He said conditions are not the same everywhere. Around areas such as Birch Hills and Nipawin, Oleksyn said some producers have dealt with more saturated land and difficulty spraying.
Oleksyn said the concern with the rain close to harvest comes down to field access and crop quality.
“Probably just access to fields, and the second probably just as important or more important is quality issues with the rain,” he said.
Scragg said farmers are looking for more typical weather over the next few weeks, without heavy rain, high winds or extreme heat.
“A little bit of rain is a good thing,” he said. “A lot of rain is a bad thing.”
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
