Saskatchewan Agriculture reports the past week saw variable amounts of moisture ranging from intense rain with flash flooding and hail to negligible rainfall.Saskatchewan Agriculture released its weekly crop yesterday.
Matt Struthers, a crops extension specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, says the majority of the province has continued to be dry.
Quote-Matt Struthers-Saskatchewan Agriculture:
What we saw over the past week were some producers getting rain and others not getting the rain and those that did get the rain, some of it was very high in volume over a very short period of time and that caused a bit of flash flooding.That equates to crop damage and it was also accompanied by some hail and some of the damage was minor and some of it was severe depending on where those storms occurred.
In the areas that had some minor damage producers are very optimistic about the crops bouncing back and they're not too worried about the damage they're seeing, it was very minor.Were as in parts of the north, in the North Battleford area and up towards the Prince Albert area there was some severe storms that rolled through.
What we're hearing back right now is some canola fields, some spring wheat along with some barley fields were completely cut down.It's very unfortunate when a hail storm like that happens.
I remember hearing about the great white combine back in the day and it's really sad to see that crop down early like that and eliminate that potential all together.Those crops are likely not going to bounce back due to the damage they've seen.
Even those crops that might bounce back that weren't severely damaged, that physical damage that occurred from that hail is going to open them up to more pressure from disease as well so producers will be out there keeping a very close eye on their crop to make sure they don't have any more surprises down the road.
Struthers says we've had a lot of hot days in June and he expects even warmer weather in July so we're going to need good rain to alleviate that stress and give the crops a good drink before the really warm weather kicks in.
Source : Farmscape.ca