REGINA – A drought of spray planes in Saskatchewan is over.
A combination of relaxed rules to allow American aerial sprayers into Canada and the decreasing pest threat in parts of southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba have allowed pilots to catch up with urgent demands for spraying of fields infested with Bertha army worms and diamond-back moths.
“A lot of these people have come over and are helping us,” said Yorkton Flying Services president Garry Reusch. “But when there was a lot of stuff going on everywhere there weren’t enough, no matter what you did and how many you brought in.”
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Pests under control
Pest outbreaks in some parts of the southern Prairies have been controlled, allowing planes from there to move north.
The cold, rainy weather that has covered much of the Prairies has slowed bug infestations, but has also grounded planes and made spraying impossible.
Because of rain damage to many rural airfields, the Saskatchewan government has allowed provincial highways to be used as temporary runways.
Canadian aerial spray companies have also been given easier access to American planes and pilots. Because of the pest emergency in Saskatchewan, the federal transport department has dropped many of the cumbersome requirements a U.S. sprayer normally needs to come into Canada, transport department spokes-person Mike Murphy said.
The approval process has been stripped to an “absolute bare bones” system that allows sprayers to be quickly brought in if they are sponsored by a Canadian aerial spraying company.
Three U.S. applicators have been brought in so far, Murphy said.
Transport Canada has also relaxed provisions that limited farmers who are able to spray their own fields to operating within a 40-kilometre radius of their farms.
Alberta has also allowed U.S. planes easier entry and is making it easier for farmer-flyers to spray.
So far Manitoba has not requested regulatory help, Murphy said.
