Crop report shows good progress across most of Saskatchewan

After a cool, wet June, Saskatchewan farmers are watching their fields closely now as pockets that were drowning have started to dry out.

The latest crop report from the Ministry of Agriculture for July 2 to 8 shows overall crop conditions in the province to be good.

Cropland topsoil moisture is at 83 per cent, and hayland topsoil moisture content is at 84 per cent.

“The drier conditions along with the heat, will help assist with crop development throughout the province and help to advance crops that have been falling behind and move them into the more normal stages of development for this time of year,” said Meghan Rosso, crops extension specialist with the Ministry of Agriculture.

“The drier conditions have also helped advance haying operations, but producers have noted that the higher humidity conditions are causing hay drying time to take a little longer than usual.”

With just a few isolated hail incidents, the main cause of damage or crop stress across the province has been due to excess moisture. But some regions have been missed by the rain.

“There are still some areas that are lacking moisture,” said Bill Prybylski, vice president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS). “Particularly the south-central and southwest part of the province that has had some rains, but certainly not as much as they would like.”

And with dry conditions come grasshoppers.

“Higher reports are coming out of the southwest region of the province that are experiencing reduced moisture conditions, with some producers indicating a lack of moisture,” said Rosso.

“So the grasshoppers have been able to develop within those areas. There has been reports of grasshoppers developing over the past week that haven't typically been there before. So the drier conditions are helping with grasshopper development, unfortunately, in some areas of the province.”

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If it’s not rain or drought or grasshoppers, gophers could also ruin a great harvest.

“Gophers have also been a problem that have been reported throughout the province, with some areas indicating moderate to severe damage as well,” Rosso told CTV News. “So that's been a challenge for producers in certain regions of the province.”

Rosso says the wet start to the growing season may lead to a later harvest time for some farmers.

“It's a little bit hard to determine now kind of when exactly harvest is going to start because it a lot depends on how these crops are going to react to the heat in the coming weeks, pushing advancement in some of these areas to be a little closer to normal.”