Crop Report for the Period June 26 to July 2, 2018

Jul 05, 2018

Scattered showers last week brought much-needed rain to many areas of the province, according to Saskatchewan Agriculture’s weekly Crop Report. Rainfall last week ranged from trace amounts to 53 mm in the Arborfield area. Additional rainfall in the past few days has alleviated concerns of dry conditions in some areas, although more will be needed in the coming weeks to help crops develop.

The majority of crops are in good condition and at their normal stages of development for this time of year. Twenty per cent of the spring cereals are in the heading stage, while 45 per cent of the canola and mustard and 44 per cent of the pulse crops are flowering.

Overall, topsoil moisture conditions have slightly worsened in the past week, due to the warmer temperatures and lack of moisture. Provincially, topsoil moisture conditions on cropland are rated as four per cent surplus, 62 per cent adequate, 29 per cent short and five per cent very short. Hay land and pasture topsoil moisture is rated as three per cent surplus, 52 per cent adequate, 32 per cent short and 13 per cent very short. Topsoil moisture remains in very short supply in many southwestern areas.

Haying continues, although there have been delays due to rain and high humidity. Livestock producers now have 14 per cent of the crop cut and 10 per cent baled or put into silage. Hay quality is rated as seven per cent excellent, 50 per cent good, 37 per cent fair and six per cent poor.

Hay yields so far are reported to be much lower than average and many pastures are expected to have significantly reduced carrying capacity heading into the summer. Pasture conditions are rated as six per cent excellent, 44 per cent good, 34 per cent fair, 13 per cent poor and three per cent very poor.

Producers are wrapping up in-crop herbicide applications in most areas and are applying fungicides when warranted. The majority of crop damage this past week was due to localized flooding, lack of moisture, strong winds and hail. Some crops are suffering from diseases such as root rot due to excess moisture.

Farmers are busy haying and scouting for insects and disease.

Maps and Tables

Source : Government of Saskatchewan

Video: Why Your Food Future Could be Trapped in a Seed Morgue

In a world of PowerPoint overload, Rex Bernardo stands out. No bullet points. No charts. No jargon. Just stories and photographs. At this year’s National Association for Plant Breeding conference on the Big Island of Hawaii, he stood before a room of peers — all experts in the science of seeds — and did something radical: he showed them images. He told them stories. And he asked them to remember not what they saw, but how they felt.

Bernardo, recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award, has spent his career searching for the genetic treasures tucked inside what plant breeders call exotic germplasm — ancient, often wild genetic lines that hold secrets to resilience, taste, and traits we've forgotten to value.

But Bernardo didn’t always think this way.

“I worked in private industry for nearly a decade,” he recalls. “I remember one breeder saying, ‘We’re making new hybrids, but they’re basically the same genetics.’ That stuck with me. Where is the new diversity going to come from?”

For Bernardo, part of the answer lies in the world’s gene banks — vast vaults of seed samples collected from every corner of the globe. Yet, he says, many of these vaults have quietly become “seed morgues.” “Something goes in, but it never comes out,” he explains. “We need to start treating these collections like living investments, not museums of dead potential.”

That potential — and the barriers to unlocking it — are deeply personal for Bernardo. He’s wrestled with international policies that prevent access to valuable lines (like North Korean corn) and with the slow, painstaking science of transferring useful traits from wild relatives into elite lines that farmers can actually grow. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But he’s convinced that success starts not in the lab, but in the way we communicate.

“The fact sheet model isn’t cutting it anymore,” he says. “We hand out a paper about a new variety and think that’s enough. But stories? Plants you can see and touch? That’s what stays with people.”

Bernardo practices what he preaches. At the University of Minnesota, he helped launch a student-led breeding program that’s working to adapt leafy African vegetables for the Twin Cities’ African diaspora. The goal? Culturally relevant crops that mature in Minnesota’s shorter growing season — and can be regrown year after year.

“That’s real impact,” he says. “Helping people grow food that’s meaningful to them, not just what's commercially viable.”

He’s also brewed plant breeding into something more relatable — literally. Coffee and beer have become unexpected tools in his mission to make science accessible. His undergraduate course on coffee, for instance, connects the dots between genetics, geography, and culture. “Everyone drinks coffee,” he says. “It’s a conversation starter. It’s a gateway into plant science.”