KELVINGTON, Sask. – After a hard, heavy frost spread across much of eastern Saskatchewan last week, producers were in a light-hearted mood.
“Got your truck plugged in?” was the joke that greeted one producer as he entered a Kelvington coffee shop. He grinned broadly. Down the street at another coffee shop other producers were chuckling about the weather.
But why the hilarity?
“The window is closing (on the danger of frost damage) with most crops reaching a good state of maturity,” said Yorkton agrologist Zane Lewchuk. “One week earlier and it would have devastated us.”
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Unpredictable year
This year has been a nailbiter for farmers in eastern Saskatchewan. Widespread floods in spring delayed seeding for weeks and heavy August rains slowed crop development. Insect infestations across much of the region saw producers spray millions of dollars worth of pesticides, making the threat of frost damage even more
harrowing.
Frost “was first and foremost on producers’ minds throughout the growing season,” said Lewchuk, but the warm, sunny weather that followed August rains matured most east-central crops to the point where the Sept. 6 and 7 chill did minimal damage.
However, agrologists cautioned that it’s only after harvest that damage becomes apparent.
Throughout Saskatchewan, some agrologists predicted last week’s frost likely downgraded the province’s grain and oilseed quality to the 10-year average from the previously anticipated above-average-quality crop.
Average quality
“Ten percent of Saskatchewan’s production was affected by (last Thursday’s) frost. Overall, it won’t affect production but it will affect grade quality,” said Saskatchewan Agriculture senior grain analyst Mike Makowsky.
Saskatchewan’s northern grainbelt north of a boundary extending from Meadow Lake in the west, south of Prince Albert, to Yorkton and through to Dauphin, Man., saw temperatures drop to -2 C for three hours, Environment Canada meteorologist Henry Rymarczuk said.
The area produces 10 percent of Saskatchewan’s wheat, barley and oats and 10 percent of its canola.
“Our expectations are that we’ll still get average quality.
“We had expected above average quality,” he added.
