Widespread Rainfall in Saskatchewan Brings Good and Bad

Rain the past week in Saskatchewan brought more misery for producers in the already wet eastern part of the province and likely came too late for some areas in the parched western part of the province, according to the latest weekly crop report. 

Widespread rainfall last week ranged from trace amounts to as much as 67 mm in the Vanguard area. Although the moisture was welcome in the drier areas – helping to speed crop development along in some cases - the rain came too late in the southwest and west-central regions and crops that were already prematurely advancing “will likely not be able to recover,” the report said. 

Meanwhile, many other areas in the east continue to struggle with excess moisture and yellowing crops, the report added. 

Cropland topsoil moisture was rated 9% surplus, 71% adequate, 18% short and 2% very short as of Monday, compared to 9% surplus, 67% adequate, 20% short and 4% very short the previous week. 

Across the province, an estimated 61% of the fall cereals are now heading out while 28% of the spring cereals are now at the shot blade stage, with an additional 12% heading out. Half of the flax crop is at the stem elongation stage, while 62% of the pulses are at the vegetative stage and 38% are flowering. Over half of the canola and mustard (54%) is in the rosette stage while 16% is now flowering. 

Haying operations have been slower than normal due to the frequent rain, high humidity and lack of growth in some areas. 

Crop damage this past week was due to localized flooding, strong winds, extremely dry soil conditions, hail and leaf spot diseases. Grasshopper populations have drastically increased in many areas and gophers continue to cause damage in many fields.