By Clark Stork

Cold weather limits winter crop concerns: Agronomist

Feb 15, 2018 | 4:00 PM

As temperatures continue to dive in the minus 30-degree Celsius range, Northeast Saskatchewan based producers shouldn’t have their hands near any panic buttons.

On Thursday the temperature reached a high of -18 C which then dipped to -30 C with the wind chill. The winter season featured several blistering cold stretches this year so local agronomist Larry Durand said winter kill could become an issue for some producers.

“The biggest thing weather-wise we’re concerned about for winter wheat or fall rye the combination of cold weather and low snow cover is going to be causing some concerns with the winter survivability of those crops,” Durand said.

The normal temperature for this time of year is -13 C. According to the Weather Network, temperatures will return to normal levels by Feb. 23. Once the spring does arrive Durand said producers should inspect their winter crops for damage.

“I would suggest farmers that have winter crops should want to be vigilant in making sure they are making assessments in the spring to make sure the crop has wintered OK, and they don’t need to reseed,” he said.

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Snow cover does assist in the health of winter crops providing shelter from the bitterness. Environment Canada meteorologist John-Paul Cragg said the Melfort region has significant snowfall cover but not a significant amount lately.

“There is more snow East of Prince Albert but in terms of temperatures with the cold air we haven’t had a lot of precipitation. February has been quite dry,” Cragg said.

At a recent agronomist trade show and conference in Melfort, World Weather Inc. meteorologist Drew Lerner discussed the upcoming forecast for 2018. He said area producers should have a “good growing” season.

“The spring will have a little wetter bias but a lot of that is leftover precipitation that won’t get out of the ground quick enough,” Lerner said.

According to the province’s Ministry of Agriculture’s last crop report of 2017, below average acres of winter crops are expected to be planted due to low moisture levels in most areas.

clark.stork@jpbg.ca

On twitter: @ClarkStork