A flood of dryness threatens the same zones that have only just survived high water warnings.
Southern Saskatchewan, after the second year in a row of late seeding, is now facing near drought conditions. Southwestern Manitoba is so severely short of water that farmers there have been delaying some spring seeding in hopes of gaining the precipitation needed to germinate crops. Others have had to reseed fields already lost to the dry wave.
Ranging from the Red River Valley in the east, south to South Dakota, then out to west-central Alberta, the drought has begun claiming crops, say provincial agriculture officials.
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“In April we thought, wow the crop is going to get a great start with good winter snow cover and everything. Now we’re just hoping the oilseeds sown into dust will actually grow,” said Judy Morningstar, who farms at Goodlands, Man.
Located near the U.S., Saskatchewan and Manitoba borders, the Morningstar farm lies in the middle of the affected zone. Having relinquished an oat crop to the drought already they began reseeding after thundershowers last weekend brought the first precipitation all spring.
“Very spotty,” describes the oilseed crops late seeded in the Carnduff, Sask. area, said Grant McLean with Saskatchewan Agriculture.
“Some people are starting to consider summer fallowing some fields with Roundup, after the poor germination they have had,” he said.
Early grazed pastures in peril
Roy Arnott, with Manitoba Agriculture in Killarney, says the worst hit may be those with native pasture who turned their animals out early. Pastures and hay fields have been hurt by cool temperatures, followed by almost no precipitation. Compounding this many producers with forage surpluses sold any quality hay they had on hand into a very strong feed market last fall and winter.
Insects too are feeling the heat as flea beetles and grasshoppers look for water in plants, increasing the damage they cause to already drought-stressed crops.
Soil moisture levels have dropped to as low as eight percent of capacity, normally at near 60 percent this time of year. Environment Canada climatologists say only a quarter of normal rainfall has fallen over the past two months.
Estevan and Yellow Grass, Sask., tie for the lowest moisture levels on the Prairies at eight percent.
“Eight percent in the root zone is not enough moisture for the plants to extract anything substantial from the soil,” said Brain Fehr, of Environment Canada in Winnipeg.
