SASKATOON – Aerial applicators are marshalling squadrons of crop dusters to battle an invasion of wheat midge.
“It’s just dribbling in right now from anything that was seeded early, before the rains hit. Anything headed out has (wheat) midge in it,” said Joe Varjassy of Prairie Aerial Applicators at Riceton, Sask., near Regina.
“But once the rest of the crop catches up, then all hell is going to break loose. It will be worse than last year. It’s a way bigger area.”
Varjassy had spent most of the day on the phone trying to arrange for additional pilots and aircraft to be ready when the peak hits, probably this week.
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Caught by surprise
Southern Saskatchewan was caught off guard in 1994 when Bertha army worms descended on the canola crop. Insects were bad again in 1995.
“This year we are organized, but I don’t think we’re going to have enough aircraft,” Varjassy said.
Ken Kovachik, an agronomist with JonAir of Portage la Prairie, Man., said it appears the midge is out in full force.
“Last year we sprayed none and this year we’ll be spraying the majority of the wheat fields in the area,” he said July 18.
The company’s five planes will be fully used, but Kovachik thinks they won’t be overwhelmed.
The infestation materialized as fast as a prairie twister.
“We went from a few guys spotting a few midge to booking close to 3,000 acres in under two hours. We went from having three work orders on the board to over 30 in one day,” he said.
Ken Kane, an aerial applicator from Minnedosa, Man., said he was so busy spraying for midge and for diseases in canola, wheat and potatoes, that he tried to get a Saskatchewan pilot to join him. He was told things were too busy.
“Everything we have is busy and we’ve had a couple of days of wind so we are behind,” Kane said.
Lloyd Good, head of the Saskatchewan Aerial Applicators Association, believes the industry is prepared.
The Saskatchewan government has agreed that if local and Canadian planes can’t meet demand, an exemption will be given to American aircraft to operate under the umbrella of companies here, he said.
“I know some people making arrangements that if that happens they’ll be able to act quickly and get extra iron up here to meet the demand,” Good said.
He also advised farmers booking planes to warn their neighbors that spraying will occur. Last year, some honey producers suffered heavy losses when their bees foraging on nearby canola fields were sprayed.
