REGINA — Farmers in east-central Saskatchewan are hoping warm and sunny weather will arrive soon to dry up their fields.
Last week's crop report indicated the region continued to receive significant amounts of rain with top soil moisture levels for crop, hay, and pasture lands in the 40 per cent surplus range or more. The extremely wet conditions were among the main factors of crop damage.
Bill Prybylski farms in the Willowbrook area and is the President of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS). He says how much it's rained depends on where you are.
"It is quite variable, but it's wet. This whole area is pretty much saturated now with varying amounts of rain. Anywhere from a couple of inches over the last week to some places in and around Yorkton have received in excess of 10 inches of rain. It's very wet and getting wetter. It's raining as we speak and no sign of it letting up." Prybylski said.
He says the forecast doesn't look favourable in short term.
In the Yorkton area, Environment Canada is forecasting 15-25 millimetres (mm) of rain Tuesday with another 5-10 mm Tuesday evening and rain continuing into Friday before reprieve Sunday and Monday with sunshine and temperatures in the high 20's.
"We definitely need some warm, dry weather now, but the forecast is not looking like we're going to get that anytime soon," he said. "Each rain event is just causing more damage and more yield loss. I think producers are getting a little frustrated and anxious."
Excessive moisture in the region resulted in 8 per cent of farmland that would normally be seeded to not get seeded, while 6 per cent of seeded land likely won't produce a crop, according to the crop report.
It's a similar story for forage crops and pastureland, as the report stated about 7 per cent of forage crops have too much moisture and won't likely produce anything, while 7 per cent of pastureland is not usable or accessible.
Prybylski says any low lying areas would be flooded.
"This part of the province…we have some smaller hills that the water runs off of into the low spots. Certainly, all the lower areas are full of water. The creeks are running full blast and sloughs are full. Any more rain that we do get is running off into the creek system. It's fortunate that we have those hills. Some areas of the field are going to survive, but certainly those lower areas are suffering significantly." he said.
Regarding crop development in the region, the report stated 26 per cent of fall cereals, 50 per cent of spring cereals, 58 per cent of oilseeds, 27 per cent of pulses, 38 per cent of perennial forages, and 33 per cent of annual forages are behind development for this time of year.
All this as the region is grappling with the aftermath of heavy rain and storms over the weekend that includes reports of tornadoes causing damage in the Pelly area and flooding of roads in the Norquay area.
