By Angela Brown

NW seeding wrapping up, rain impact being assessed

Jun 17, 2022 | 2:47 PM

The BATTLEFORDS, Sask. — Seeding is just about complete in the northwest region of the province, including the Battlefords and Meadow Lake area.

While there were heavy rains in the area on June 13 and 14, the province is still assessing the impact on crop land.

Local producer, Charlie Smith, who farms in the Rabbit Lake area, said he was pleased with the amount of precipitation he received from June 13–15.

“We had actually a nice rain,” he said. “We did not get the big downpour that Battleford and North Battleford did.”

Smith received about 50.8 mm of rain that will help his topsoil. He mentioned he heard some areas south of Battleford got 152.4 mm of rain, which would result in some overland flooding.

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A number of rain showers and thunderstorms hit the province over the past week. Several areas throughout Saskatchewan reported minor to severe flooding. The Biggar area received 69 mm of precipitation, the province reported.

Shannon Friesen, crops extension specialist for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, said for the week ending June 13 seeding is largely finished, thanks to some relatively drier weather during the bulk of the week as well as the recent rains, which, “will certainly get things germinating.”

“What’s left to be seeded is a bit of green-feed [animal feed] such as oats. But for the most part things are now wrapped up,” she said. “Certainly, the region has received quite a bit of rain over the last couple of weeks. Of course, we will know more of those impacts in the coming days.”

Friesen did mention that crop growth has been slow in the region. So some more rain and heat is still needed to move production along.

The dominant crops being produced in the northwest this year cover a bit of everything. Farmers are growing canola for the most part, along with spring wheat. On the lower part in the region, they are also producing some durum wheat, peas, lentils and faba beans, barley and oats.

The province reported spraying insecticide was delayed or limited due to weather conditions, such as high winds and rain in areas. That has an impact on crops unfortunately.

Friesen said some canola has been affected by flea beetles, gophers, cutworms and wire worms.

“For the crop itself, a lot of it has been very slow to grow. So of course the slower a crop grows the more insects can actually feed on it during damaging times,” she said.

Looking at the heavy rain events, she said fortunately they happened when seeding was close to being complete.

“Certainly, flooding is not something we like to see,” Friesen said. “A lot of that flooding happened because we have large amounts of rainfall come onto very dry soil. And the ground was not able to absorb enough of that.”

Hopefully, in the coming days and weeks, she said, a lot of that water will recede. She noted that at least the topsoil and subsoil moisture should be in better shape.

“We are looking for a lot of that surface water to now either absorb or, of course, drain into some of our sloughs and creeks,” Friesen added.

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angela.brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW