Saskatchewan farmers worried about possible crop damage due to snowmobiles

Early snowfalls have delayed harvests around the province

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

The recent snowfalls in Saskatchewan have brought out the province’s snowmobilers, but farmers are concerned they may be damaging the crops remaining under the snow.

“People have anywhere from 1,000 acres to 3,000 acres out in the fields around here that haven’t been combined yet, so it’s a bad situation for the winter,” Dolores Buckingham, who farms with her husband about an hour away from North Battleford, told CKOM.

Buckingham said fences on her property have been cut where snowmobilers are making their way through. She said this actioncould prove problematic for farmers with livestock.

“People who have livestock, all of a sudden their livestock are running around. You know, it’s a danger to anyone who is out on the roadways,” she told CKOM.

The crops buried under the snow also attract wildlife, which in turn may bring hunters onto farmers’ fields.

“We try to police ourselves a little bit and we certainly would recommend that if you see anybody doing something that ethically or legally they shouldn’t be doing – to call the tips line,” Darrell Crabbe, executive director of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, told CKOM.