‘Catastrophic’: Sask. farmers need rain as heat punishes select crops

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While parts of Saskatchewan are still experiencing “adequate” moisture, Bev Pirio is seeing bone-dry fields of sun-scorched canola at her farm south of Radville.

“It’s really bad here,” said Pirio in a recent interview. “We’ve had just under five inches of rain since everything was seeded. We haven’t had any rain now in a few weeks, so the crops are pretty much baked.”

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With persistent high temperatures and little precipitation across Saskatchewan, rain is needed as harvest rapidly approaches.

The latest cropland report from the province notes that “topsoil moisture is rated at 50 per cent adequate, 40 per cent short and 10 per cent very short. Hayland topsoil moisture is rated at 45 per cent adequate, 42 per cent short and 13 per cent very short.”

Hot weather has particularly affected pockets in south and west Saskatchewan.

Trevor Hadwen, agroclimate specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), said the last few years in the province have been quite dry, but much-needed moisture this spring allowed for “tremendous recovery.”

“The season started out really good,” said Hadwen, who noted that some areas actually had too much moisture and cool weather this spring, leading to some delays and unseeded acres.

Recent weeks have brought reduced rain and high temperatures.

“There are certainly some issues with the heat,” he said, adding that heat stress is especially acute for Saskatchewan canola, but moisture levels appear to be “OK for the most part.”

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Precipitation in the next week or so would be ideal timing to bolster the growth cycle amid soaring temperatures that have caused issues in “localized regions, and certainly localized crops,” Hadwen said.

On Pirio’s farm, the heat came right as several crops were in the critical flowering stages of growth.

“It’s pretty fried up at this point,” said Pirio, whose crops included chickpeas, canola and green lentils. “The news going around right now is that there’s so much moisture out there … but that’s not representative of the whole province.”

Pulse crops like peas, beans, and lentils are better able to withstand the heat compared to crops like wheat or canola.

“Canola is especially sensitive to heat blasting while flowering, and producers are concerned about how their crops will fair during this period,” the crop report notes. “Cereals also appear to have been significantly affected by the extreme heat.”

Pirio, who is also vice-president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS), said while 2023 didn’t bring bumper crops by any means, she was pleased with last year’s cache.

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“But then the taps shut off,” she said. “We didn’t get much of anything for snow and we got one good spring dump.”

Pirio’s son and husband finished seeding in “good time” this year but their crops haven’t seen much moisture since. Even though the heat last year took some bushels, “it wasn’t as catastrophic as it is this year,” she said.

“This year, it’s pretty bad.”

The impact of the heat has put some plans on hold at Pirio’s farm — like buying a “new to us” tractor for operations.

“That kind of thing just wont happen,” she said.

And Pirio is not alone.

“If the heat persists, crops will continue to decline and yield potential will fall,” reads the crop report for the week of July 16-22. “Most crops are rated fair to good, with the lowest-rated crops coming from the southwest, west central and parts of the southeast where conditions are driest.”

According to maps from the Ministry of Agriculture, the majority of Saskatchewan’s farmland received only “trace” rainfall for the weekly reporting period. That same report shows a large pocket of cropland topsoil moisture conditions as “short” in the south west, with areas around Swift Current and Maple Creek categorized as “very short.”

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After a recent trip to Mossbank in her capacity as APAS vice-president, Pirio said she’s heard from other producers concerned about the potential impact of the latest heat wave.

“It doesn’t matter whether the moisture is in the ground or not, the heat can really shut the plant down,” she said.

Pirio expects some producers to access crop insurance this growing season, but the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation (SCIC) said it is still too early to say.

In 2023, crop insurance claims were filed to the tune of $1.8 billion, pushing the total payout between 2021 and 2023 to just under $6 billion.

SCIC president and CEO Jeff Morrow says this year is looking more favourable for producers compared to the last two years, though he too acknowledged the heat could affect the yield potential of crops.

“There are pockets that are facing dry conditions now and some pockets that faced challenges getting crops in the ground,” he said. “And in some cases, once they did get crops seeded, they got drowned out.”

Even though conditions generally look better than last year, “what happens from now until those crops are in the bin will really tell the tale of what payout will be,” added Morrow.

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Drought assessments are published at the end of each month but, ahead of the upcoming report, Hadwen said things were looking OK. The province has seen little drought so far this season, although there is some near North Battleford and Lloydminster, he noted.

According to the AAFC, Saskatchewan saw higher than normal precipitation in June, with much of the province reporting between 115 per cent and 200 per cent of normal precipitation.

That said, there is still a need for rain to hopefully aid a bit of late-season recovery, Hadwen added.

For some farmers, it may be too little, too late.

“This many days in a row of this kind of heat can shut crops down,” Pirio lamented. “I don’t want to say it sucks, but it sort of does. There’s always next year.”

alsalloum@postmedia.com

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