Some farmers are using the D word as their crops bake across parts of southern and central Saskatchewan.
“Everything is drought stressed, but we’ve got nothing left in the tank,” said Eric McPeek of Coronach, Sask.
Since May 1, the south-central producer has received only 15 millimetres of rain.
And to make matters worse, the grain farmer said he awoke June 25 to find frost had blanketed many of his chickpea, lentil, durum and canola crops.
“The chickpeas were just beginning to flower and it fried everything that was green off of the plant. It was just really patchy in the damage it did,” he said.
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According to the Saskatchewan government’s minimum temperature map of June 20-26, Val Marie and Coronach were some of the coldest areas in the province: -1.9 to 0 C within a larger area where temperatures dipped to .1 to 2 C.
McPeek said many low-lying areas of the rural municipalities of Hart Butte and Enfield, from the Canada-U.S. border north to Central Butte, received frost, which in combination with lack of moisture is having lasting repercussions for this growing season.
“The pulses that did freeze are trying to regrow, but we haven’t had any rain at all,” he said.
“They’re trying but I don’t know if they’re going to amount to much. We’ll see.”
His neighbour, Craig Eger, also had widespread damage to his chickpea and lentil crops and doesn’t hold out much hope that large patchy areas for either crop will have much yield potential.
“Chickpeas and lentils are usually pretty tough, but they never get froze when they’re flowering,” he said.
“That’s why we don’t know what’s going to come of it. They’re starting to pod now and there’s only a quarter of the growth on the plants, so it’s pretty tough for them to produce properly.”
McPeek said most of the frost damage to his durum was minimal, while the canola went untouched.
However, all crops are suffering from the lack of moisture.
“The durum froze, too. It stunted it, but it continued growing. It’s trying to throw a head out; about eight inches tall, but I don’t know if it will amount to much with this week of heat,” he said July 4.
Brent Flaten of Saskatchewan Agriculture said the dry area is in the shape of a large pyramid that extends from Maple Creek northeast to Saskatoon and southwest to Weyburn.
He said precipitation has come by way of scattered showers that have splashed down in isolated pockets across the province, and spotty weather has helped produce patchy crops.
“That’s the main concern due to the dry weather and problems with emergence of crop,” he said.
“Where they had some rain showers there’s the issue of double staging of crops where you’ve got crops that are quite well advanced that germinated right after seeding versus the later emerging crops that came out after a rain quite some time after seeding.”
However, Flaten said any moisture at this point is probably too little and too late for a production turnaround for many crops within the triangle, particularly those that didn’t emerge when the topsoil dried out.
“It’s too late to make them into a good crop,” he said. “Any localized showers would just maintain what lesser yield potential there is out there al-ready.”
Flaten said hay crops within the triangle are faring no better, and quality and yield are poor.
“People are going to be looking for hay,” he said.
The triangle of dryness will continue to push outward as the current heat wave and lack of moisture drags on.
In Manitoba, the southwest region and the western part of the central region are experiencing about 70 percent of normal precipitation.
“It seems to be very patchy throughout,” said Anne Kirk of Manitoba Agriculture.
She said cereals and canola generally continue to have good crop growth but expects that will be turning around soon if more moisture does not arrive.
It’s a little early to use the word drought in southern Alberta, said Harry Brook, crop specialist for Alberta Agriculture.
“Some of the places in southern Alberta are drier than normal, but I wouldn’t go so far to say they’re droughty,” he said.
“It seems to be hit or miss. Some guys are probably 30 to 40 percent under long-term average moisture, while others are pretty much on the nose. If you’re under the right cloud, you’re doing great. If you’re not, you could be looking for some.”
