‘It’s a billion-dollar rain:’ The moisture’s financial implications for producers

Saskatchewan was dry heading into the May long weekend.

Now, on Tuesday, we’re in a much different boat. After up to 2 1/2 inches fell in some areas over the multi-day stretch, the rain isn’t referenced as a million-dollar rain but according to Kevin Hursh — a Saskatchewan farmer and ag consultant — it’s worth a lot more.

“Even an inch of rain produces X number of bushels, depending on the crop (and) depending upon how the year turns out. But people talk about a million-dollar rain; heck, for some individual large producers, this could make a million-dollar difference. Really, a rain of this magnitude when precipitation is short, it’s a billion-dollar rain — at least — in the province of Saskatchewan,” he said Tuesday.

Hursh said this rainfall isn’t going to spell the end of the crop growing year, as more rain is definitely needed. Depending on how the rest of the year goes, things could look a lot different — even just weeks from now.

“It wouldn’t be surprising if in two or three weeks from now, we’re still crying for moisture again. But for right now, this buys us some time,” Hursh continued.

“It’s a sigh of relief. There were crops seeded, especially shallow-seeded crops like canola that may not have been into moisture (and) may not have germinated properly. So this is a sigh of relief, but this isn’t the end of the story.”

When it comes to the situation Saskatchewan sees itself in, overall when it comes to moisture deficit, it’s not the prettiest picture.

“We were in a situation where we were in a severe moisture deficit in almost all areas of the province — some quite severe. Dating back six months, eight months, nine months, rain at this time is extremely valuable,” Hursh said.

On the other end of things, the rain and cold conditions that came with it could end up doing damage to alreadyemerged crops, Hursh continued. He said some areas may have received too much, or not what they’d like, of the rain.

There’s the potential that some producers may need to reseed due to the frost damage, but when looking at the overall picture, Hursh had positive words.

“In total, the benefits of a rain like this outweigh some of the negative aspects that may materialize,” he said.

May, June and July are historically the rainiest months in Saskatchewan, according to Hursh. He said these coming months “hold the key” to growing a good crop.

He shared his perfect world and the conditions that would make any farmer crack a smile.

“Regular rains are needed and are needed more this year than most other years, just because we’re going into the season with a moisture deficit,” he said.

“In an ideal world, things would warm up — not get to 30 C and 35 C through the summer — and we see an inch of moisture every week or two.”

Regina sees above-average precipitation, Saskatoon experiences less

Environment Canada meteorologist Terri Lang said the precipitation this month brought more rain than the last four Mays combined.

“May and June are the rainiest months; this is where we get the bulk of our precipitation out of these exact type of systems,” Lang said. “This is making up for some of the dryness that we’ve seen over the last couple months.

“I think these two systems (from the weekend) are going to make a big difference into how things are progressing, particularly for the farmers as this is well-timed rain.”

Two recent weather systems are responsible for the bulk of precipitation we have seen in the province this month.

According to Lang, the 63.5 millimetres (mm) or 2.5 inches that fell is the most precipitation the Regina area has seen in May since 2016 when there was roughly 2.9 inches of rain recorded.

Regina’s rain total average for May over the last 30 years is 51.4 mm or 2.02 inches.

The Saskatoon area is a different story.

Despite recent showers, the roughly 1.4 inches this month is below the city’s 30-year average for May, which is 1.7 inches.

Lang says the slight decrease in Saskatoon’s precipitation does not come as a concern, as June, July and August offer plenty of opportunity for moisture.

“People forget that we live in a dry climate. The winter is quite dry,” Lang said. “Precipitation when it falls as snow, when you melt it down, it doesn’t add up to as much rain as you would think.

“There will be plenty of opportunity to raise these precipitation levels up in the months ahead.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Logan Stein