A proper harvest in the southeast portion of the province is in the works. The situation for crops in Division 1 of Saskatchewan is looking optimistic, as August begins.
According to Sherri Roberts, a crop specialist with the Ministry of Agriculture, Weyburn Office, things are generally looking very good for most crops grown within the division, with disease pressure being non existent, and farmers starting the crops generally all at decent times, with a few specific exceptions to those trends.
“Right now, I’m seeing some awfully nice pea fields this year, in that area,” said Roberts. “There are some fall rye and malting barley fields that both look exceptional.”
Roberts described this year as a vast improvement, compared to last year, in which conditions were suboptimal for a number of different crops. One particular problem was an excess of moisture that led to fungal disease problems, particularly for pea crops.
“Last year the peas looked horrible because we had so much rain. The lack of moisture at the beginning of the growing season wasn’t a problem this year,” said Roberts. “The peas drew the moisture from way deep down, brought it up, and they didn’t end up with any disease issues.”
Other crops doing well this year include malting barley and fall rye. Roberts notes the malting barley, in particular, always does well, and this year is no exception since it was seeded early.
As far as pests are concerned, there’s been little insect pressure in the region, with the exception of the area south of Radville, where some farmers are dealing with grasshoppers.
Last Tuesday’s storm, while severe, did much less damage in the affected areas than it could have. According to Roberts, there have been some cereal fields completely wiped out just north of Francis, on account of hail in the area.
Much earlier in the season, some canola crops were destroyed by frost. This will lead to some variability in maturities at the end of the season, because farmers had to replant.
Due to that variation, “some farmers are going to be combining as early as next week, and there are others who’ll have to wait another three or four weeks until their crops are ready,” said Roberts. She said less mature crops from more recent plantings won’t do well if there’s an early frost this year.
“There’s some dryness south of Radville, and there’s a little area between Indian Head and Kendall that’s short on moisture,” said Roberts. “They didn’t seem to get the rains. The alfalfa took a hit, and a lot of farmers are only going to get one cutting. There are some soybean fields out there that may face problems, since they were planted awfully late.”
Speaking of soybeans, Roberts expressed a great deal of approval at having seen the amount of acres dedicated to growing them and other specialty crops. The ministry is looking to create educational opportunities for farmers to grow more specialty and niche crops.
“Driving around and talking to all the other specialists, the southeast probably has some of the nicest crops in the province this year,” said Roberts. “The southeast has a lot of promise as a good place to farm –we’ve been lucky this year.
