By Kellah Lavoie

Stories of 2010, #4 Wet weather brought farming fright

Dec 28, 2010 | 5:23 AM

It was a spring and summer of rain.

The prairies got pounded with record levels and crops took the brunt of the damage.

Kevin Hursh, an agriculture consultant, said it made for below average crops.

“There were millions of acres unseeded in Saskatchewan, millions more that were subsequently flooded out and then a lot of rain during harvest decreased quality of what was grown for many producers.”

Kerry Peterson, a Shellbrook area farmer, said 20 per cent of his land didn’t get seeded.

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“In our area 20 per cent not seeded is a good statistic for the year, I think east of Prince Albert they were up to the 50 to 60 per cent not seeded which would take a big toll,” he said.

“Field conditions, just strictly ground travel was limited and people had trouble just basically getting out into the field to harvest… The rain downgraded a lot of crops and caused people not to get into the fields on time for when we normally would, which with the wet conditions in the fall, frost was maybe a bit of a concern and took a toll.”

Peterson said he has never seen a summer like it before.

“I’ve talked (to), a lot of my neighbours, they’ve farmed a lot more years than I have and I have yet to run into somebody who says they’ve seen a year like this, with this much rain and these conditions,” he said.

While there was some compensation through unseeded acreage payments, excess moisture assistance program and the Agri-Stability Program, it didn’t cover everything for all farmers.

With all the snow already this winter, there is the risk 2011 will be a repeat.

“Many of those acres that were unseeded last year could go unseeded this year,” said Hursh.

“I think the big worry is a lot of the areas that were extremely wet, still were extremely wet at harvest time and after harvest time and more moisture came and since then many areas have had significant snowfall on top of that.”

“We never know what Mother Nature is going to deal us in the spring,” said Peterson.

“The ground froze up really wet, excessively wet, and already we probably have more snow than we would like to see this year but anything can happen.”

With an early spring, with lots of wind and sun, things can still get back on track.

“The outlook is good for those producers who can grow a crop but those wet acres from last year are the one caveat to having a good year for 2011,” said Hursh

“It was a difficult year and that’s how it will be remembered – is the year is just didn’t stop raining.”

klavoie@panow.com

Previous stories from 2010's top 10:

Stories of 2010, #10 Relay for Life success

Stories of 2010, #9 Fire Mentor Program cancelled

Stories of 2010, #8 First Nations University nearly closes

Stories of 2010, #7 Emotional rollercoaster around pulp mill

Stories of 2010, #6 Spring brings serious crime

Stories of 2010, #5 Memories of the Olympic torch