Wind and rain causing some localized crop damage in central Saskatchewan, says provincial expert

Donovan Block has been growing canola, wheat, barley and hay on his 2,000 acres in the Leroy area, southeast of Humboldt, for the last 42 years.

This year, while he says most of his crops are doing pretty well, he has experienced some challenges –  namely, too many windy and rainy days.

Some low lying areas of his farm were flooded after several inches of rain fell in the Humboldt area Sunday, June 14. While the intensity has let up – the rainfall hasn’t stopped since then.

“Between the winds and the rain, it’s hard to get the spraying caught up. But with the sprayers, it doesn’t take long to get caught up, and it doesn’t take long to get behind, either,” he says.

“We have some canola to spray, and some wheat to spray yet. But if it would ever stop raining, it wouldn’t take long to catch up.”

Some ditches and ravines around his fields that would normally be dry at this time of year, are actually flowing with water. He’s hoping it will drain away soon.

“Either extreme is no good,” he adds.

The windy conditions experienced throughout the end of May and this month also made seeding difficult for him.

“There was a lot of dust blowing. So, there was a little bit of dirt that moved. The wind has been a real factor this year.”

Agriculture Ministry Crops Extension Specialist Sara Tetland says some areas of the province were fairly dry until this week –  including the west-central and southern regions. For the most part, the rain has been welcome.

In small areas, there are a few reports of waterlogged fields, she says, which can prevent oxygen from entering the roots and causing deficiencies, however it doesn’t seem to be wide-spread.

The wind has caused the most issues.

“There have been reports of kind of patchy emergence and reduced growth… along with that, the winds have been delaying farmers from being able to get out and spraying fields.”

That means more weeds are coming up, and bugs are causing problems.

“There have been reports of flea beetle and cutworms damage throughout the province, and farmers haven’t been able to get out and spray for theses insect pests as much as they would like.”

High winds have also damaged seedlings in some areas, she explains.

“There have been reports of ‘sandblasting’ which is when the soil physically moves and causes lesions on the plants, so these winds have been causing issues throughout most regions of the province.”

Overall, she says seeding has been completed, crops are doing well and are at the normal development stage for this time of year. If there’s one thing that farmers in the central region of the province could benefit from, what would it be?

“We could use some warmer temperatures to promote crop growth,” says Tetland.