Saskatchewan Agriculture reports warmer and drier conditions over the past week have helped improve crop development bringing crops closer to normal development for this time of year.
Saskatchewan Agriculture released its crop report yesterday for the period from July 14th to 20th.
Kim Stonehouse, a Crops Extension Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, says warmer weather is helping bring crop development closer to normal stages for this time of year so about one-quarter to two-thirds of acres are now behind normal.
Quote-Kim Stonehouse-Saskatchewan Agriculture:
Most areas of the province are getting some warmer and drier conditions this week and that's definitely helped to improve the crop development and allowed haying to proceed.
However, there has been some localized thunderstorms that have caused damage to crops and property in some regions.
Warmer temperatures and higher humidity also created favorable conditions for disease development so many producers are now applying some fungicides to try and suppress the disease, the pressure that's out there and proactively spraying to reduce the risk of further disease development.
The main damage that is being reported this week is minor to severe damage from flooding, heat, wind, and hail from the storms.
Gophers and cabbage seedpod weevil have caused minor to moderate damage to crops, as well as other minor damage from insect pests.
The localized storms and strong winds have led cereal crops to be lodged across many regions of the province and any areas that have remained wet for most of the season, the root rots and seedling diseases and other diseases, of course, are causing minor to moderate damage.
Stonehouse says producers are now busy scouting their fields for disease, insect pressures and that sort of thing and addressing them as they come along, as well as spraying fungicides to proactively prevent diseases from developing.
He says, with harvest is just around the corner, a lot of guys will be out getting equipment ready for harvest.
Source : Farmscape.ca