It is too early to tell how yields will be this fall, but the quality appears to be good according to early reports despite an armyworm infestation among canola crops and fusarium outbreak with wheat.

Kent McLeod, manager of Viterra, said among the crops of canola, lentils, wheat, peas and barley that are seeded in this area, it is just the peas and barley that are starting to “come off.” He said the quality so far “seems to be fairly decent,” but it will still be a few more weeks before everything can be classified as successful.

“There has been some diseases in the canola and the armyworm in the canola,” McLeod said. “Spring wheat has been suffering from fusarium. It’s kind of new to us here. We’ve had some, but not to this extent. Until the guys get combined, it’s going to be hard to say just how much damage has been done to both quality and to yield.”

Grant McLean, cropping management specialist for the provincial Agricultural Knowledge Centre, said the higher humidity that Saskatchewan has experienced this summer has brought on more leaf diseases and the armyworm population is “quite high,” but for the most part crops across the province are looking quite good.

“With the humidity and moisture, we are seeing higher incidences of leaf diseases in the wheat, barley and durums,” McLean said. “Certainly we are seeing higher incidences of other diseases in the canola and the sclerotinia in particular has been a bigger risk and in some cases causing concern, but it’s too late to do anything about that now.”

A farmer’s only hope in stopping the outbreak is applying a fungicide or insecticide to the leaf surface to protect it, which is “like trying to saran wrap a three-year-old on a tricycle and keep him dry in a rain storm,” he said.

To read more please see the August 20 print edition of The Davidson Leader.