By Alice McFarlane

Average yields in the Quill Lakes district

Aug 25, 2020 | 1:53 PM

MELFORT, Sask. – Producers near the Quill Lakes, 175 kilometres east and south of Saskatoon, Sask. have been dealing with wet conditions for several years.

It’s turning into a very different type of fall, according to farmer Dwight Odelein.

He said it started with about five and a half inches of rain since the first part of May. Then the tap turned off.

“It hasn’t rained much for the last month and I can tell by the crop that an inch of rain or an inch or two a couple of weeks ago would have helped,” he said.

Odelein said he expects it to be an average crop, but it would have been better with a little bit more rain.

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“It’s ripening a little prematurely,” he said. “It’s under drought stress I guess is the way to describe it.”

The level of Quill Lakes has dropped about six inches which is good news for the affected farmers. Odelein knows of some flooded land going back into production but the results have been disappointing.

“I talked to a fellow the other day and I can’t remember exactly how many acres he said he gained. It was substantial. But the crop is under half, closer to a third,” he said. “Time will tell how quickly the recovery is but it’s not immediate. I’m suspecting a high-water table and salinity is probably to blame for that.”

Odelein has just started combining. He said the barley he combined would be considered an average crop of good quality.

“One of my cousins combined peas and it sounds like they’re in the 40 to 50 (bushel per acre) range which is a good average crop.”

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF