‘Eternal optimists’: Farmers hopeful for rain as seeding continues

Farmers in Saskatchewan are hoping to soak in some rain rather than sun in the near future.

“There’s pockets that are good and pockets that are dry. I think in the next week we will be dry in most of the province if we don’t get rain. We’re going to need it soon. Hopefully Mother Nature comes through,” said Ian Boxall, who farms near Tisdale.

“Farmers are eternal optimists or else we wouldn’t do what we do. We wouldn’t put in all the money and the effort into seeding this crop if we didn’t believe it was going to be a record crop at the end of the year. Let’s hope Mother Nature comes through and with the commodity prices we are seeing now, things will be good.

“I think we’re dryer than normal. I think most of the province hasn’t seen any significant moisture in 14 months. (We had) the harvest from hell in 2019 and then last year was probably carryover from 2019, with the odd shower that produced a crop last year and now we’re getting to a point where we need some substantial rainfall in a majority of the province and let’s hope we get it.”

The provincial crop report said seeding is well ahead of the five-year average, with 38 per cent done in Saskatchewan. The crop report also noted some farmers have stopped seeding until some moisture comes to the province.

Boxall said due to a depleted stock of food and other agricultural products around the world, prices are high for their goods, which could lead to some records being broken for farmers.

And that could be good for everyone.

“With the way the economy has been in Canada and in this province with the pandemic, I think agriculture can put the Canadian and Saskatchewan economy on its back and get through this,” Boxall said.