Crops in trouble with drought in south

Harvest started in arid fields in south while soggy terrain a problem in north

After years of harvesting record crops, Kurt Fiechter isn’t expecting much this year.

“I’m kind of thinking about a third (of crop yields) across the board of what it has been. It’s quite a kick in one year,” he said.

Fiechter is a grain farmer in the Ceylon area. In early spring field conditions were good, the moisture received last fall having made for a lot of subsoil moisture.

“(My crops) actually hung on way better than I was expecting all through the season; with no rain in May that’s kind of unheard of. When we got that rain in June, if we could have got another one at the end of the June, first part of July we probably still could have had a shot (at a decent crop),” he said.

The story on Fiechter’s farm is much the same across southern Saskatchewan. The provincial crop report released Thursday said little rain in southern Saskatchewan has led to crops ripening quickly.

“Crops are generally poor. There’s the odd field or local area that has the crops still looking fairly decent, but certainly this hot, dry weather is frying up some of the crops,” said Brent Flaten, integrated pest management specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture.

Across the province, topsoil moisture on cropland is rated at five per cent surplus, 35 per cent adequate, 38 per cent short and 22 per cent very short.

Harvest has begun in the southern portion of the province, with pulses being desiccated and some winter cereal and pulse crops being combined.

Fiechter has given up on receiving rain to help his crop this year, but is hoping for moisture to replenish the soil over winter.

“We’ve used up every drop of subsoil moisture we had. If we don’t get something to replenish the soil we’re in really bad shape next year,” he said.

The story is completely different in the northern part of the province, due to localized flooding.

“We’re blessed and cursed with the province we have because we’ve got such diversity ... we run from severe drought to severe flooding,” said Norm Hall, vice-president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS).

APAS has been pleased to see how the provincial government has handled the weather conditions.

“We applauded the province when they opened up some of the conservation lands for pasture and hay. Crop Insurance has been getting out in advance and I guess writing off crops early so that producers can manage weeds or use what’s there for livestock feed,” Hall said.

Due to the dry conditions, the provincial government has extended the deadline for applications for Saskatchewan’s Farm and Ranch Water Infrastructure Program from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30. The program assists farmers and ranchers in developing sustainable water supplies for agricultural use.