Snow a mixed blessing for Sask. farmers

The snow may be causing headaches for city drivers, but it’s been a welcome sight for many farmers who spent last growing season dealing with drought.

Jake Leguee farms in the Fillmore area and told the 980 CJME Morning Show he was relieved to see the snow on Sunday.

“This is one of the driest years in the last several decades out here, especially to go through the winter without anything,” Leguee said. “You know 2017’s growing season was one of the driest we ever had and tack on a very dry winter on top of that I mean we’re in a significant moisture deficit situation, no doubt about that.”

While his area didn’t get hit with quite as much snow as other places, he said farmers are happy to take what they can get for moisture at this point.

Most people may be hoping the snow disappears quickly with warmer temperatures on the way for the weekend, but Leguee said ideally farmers would like to see a slow melt.

“It’s hard to know exactly how much this will contribute to our soil moisture because the ground is frozen very solid for several feet,” Leguee said. “So when frost comes out, if the snow melts fast it might just all run off, if it melts slow we might get some infiltration, either way we’ll get some benefit out of it, no question about it, so we’re very, very happy to see it.”

Saskatchewan Agricultural Producers Association President Todd Lewis said the snow is welcomed by farmers across the province.

“We’re going to need some timely rain this year to get a crop.”

He said surface water is also a big issue so runoff would also help to fill dugouts for cattle producers.

As drought-hit farmers welcome snowfall, concerns of more flooding in northeast

While the recent snow is a blessing for many Saskatchewan farmers, the same can not be said for all agricultural producers.

Many farmers northeast of Saskatoon are coming off an extremely wet year.

Al Boschman, who runs a farm located between Nipawin and Carrot River said the water table in his area remains high.

“(weather forecasters) were saying, ‘how happy Saskatchewan farmers were going to be,’ well, they weren’t talking to the Carrot River area, that’s for sure.”

Boschman said it was too wet to seed last year, leaving him hoping some moisture runs off before it is absorbed into the soil.

“I’m afraid it’s going to tip the scales. It’s going to be way too much again. It’s going to be wet again,” Boschman said.

—With files from Chris Carr