Midsummer heat, following months of cold and wet conditions, have put Sask. farms in “overall good condition.”
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After a week of clear, sunny July weather, crops all across Saskatchewan are shooting up and blooming in their fields.
This midsummer heat, after months of cold and wet conditions, has put farms in “overall good condition” at this point in the season, according to the provincial government’s weekly crop report.
“Moisture and warmer temperatures are supporting quicker crop development, with some crops already starting to show reductions in the percentage that are falling behind in development,” the report said.
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“Canola and spring cereals are still the furthest behind the normal stages of development for this time of year.”
Despite “a few isolated storms with heavier rainfall amounts and hail” scattered across the province last week, hitting the Frobisher, Regina, Langenburg and Macklin areas, most areas of the province stayed dry.
Cropland, hayland and pasture topsoil, which had been sucking up moisture all season, are now also starting to dry out as “reduced precipitation and increased temperatures have reduced the topsoil moisture reserves throughout many regions of the province.”
Watch: How cropland topsoil moisture conditions have changed in 2024
Conditions are so dry that the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) flagged “a high risk that covers most of Saskatchewan” and issued a provincial fire ban on Thursday.
However, the weather has also been a big help for farmers’ haying operations, which have been running behind schedule all season. Now, nearly 20 per cent of the hay crop has received its first cut. Thirty per cent of the hay is rated as being in ‘excellent’ condition, while 59 per cent of the hay is ‘good.’
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“Over the next week … haying will continue throughout much of the province with the drier conditions forecasted,” the report said.
Crop development: July 8, 2024
Because of all the rain that has hammered Saskatchewan farms so far this season, the main cause of crop damage in many regions of the province remains excess moisture.
Hail, gophers, grasshoppers, aphids and cabbage seedpod weevils also “continue to cause damage,” while producers watch for other stresses, diseases, insects and pests affecting their crops.
“With the frequent moisture and currently humid conditions, disease development has been observed in various crops including pulses and cereals,” the report noted.
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