Farmscape for September 8, 2017

An Integrated Pest Management Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture reports the dry conditions that reduced crop yields in parts of the south this year are expanding north and creating concerns for next year's crops.
Saskatchewan Agriculture released it's weekly crop report for the period from August 29 to September 4 yesterday.
Brent Flaten, an Integrated Pest Management Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, reports the extremely dry conditions that raised concerns this year are expanding and raising concerns for next year's crops.

Clip-Brent Flaten-Saskatchewan Agriculture:
It continues to be extremely dry out there.
Topsoil moisture from cropland is 76 percent short or very short across the grainbelt in Saskatchewan.
Hay land is 81 percent short or very short so that dry area has moved now into the northern grainbelt, which is OK for at this time of year as far as harvest is concerned, dry though for anybody who is wanting to seed winter wheat.
The other thing is that I think most people are concerned about next year.
This past season we've been able to tap into all that extra moisture that we got last fall and during the summer last year so the crop was able to pull out and utilize that stored soil moisture where now we're going into next year, as of now, short of moisture.
We definitely want some rain later this fall prior to freeze up and into next spring and have some timely rains next year.

Flaten says we're starting to see the focus of concern from this year move into next year in terms of cropping conditions.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork