When Kevin Beach looks over his farmland, he sees an expanse of gray and yellow, almost bare of snow. It has him bracing for a tough seeding season. “We’re all kind of sitting here holding our breath,” Beach said. “As of today, we’re in a pretty serious drought condition.” That’s true across southern Saskatchewan. According to the National Agroclimate Information Service’s Dec. 31 drought map, a huge swath surrounding Regina is in “extreme drought.” Soil moisture reserves were “greatly depleted” by dry conditions last year, Beach said. Without snow cover, what little is left is getting freeze dried by the frost — or simply evaporating into the winter air. “It could be a little tricky getting seeds to germinate if it continues this dry,” he said. “It could really affect the yields going forward.” Beach runs an organic farm near Ernfold, Sask. He grows grains, lentils and pulse crops, and raises livestock. He’s worried for his crops — but his greatest fears are for his cattle. “That could be critically affected,” he said. “The reserve of hay and pasture was pretty much depleted by last fall.” He said his farm “depends heavily” on snowmelt. In a typical year, runoff would help refresh the grasses and sloughs that sustain his cattle. But the way this winter is going, Beach is contemplating digging a well to supply his herd. Conventional farmers are also worried. Gerry Hertz, SaskCanola board member and husband of Sask. Party leadership candidate Alanna Koch, farms canola and other crops in the Edenwold area. After years of wet weather, he says farmers are going through a “mind shift” this year. “There is no doubt that it’s front and centre in our minds,” he said of the drought. He said last year’s bumper crop sucked a lot of moisture out of the soil — and the dry fall weather left it that way. “Think about it as a bank account,” he explained. “Last year we had a huge bank account of reserve moisture … This year we have no savings account when it comes to moisture, so we need timely rains to grow a good crop.” Snowmelt isn’t enough to nourish crops, Hertz said. But it can be an insurance policy in the spring, helping seeds germinate if that rain doesn’t come. If the soil is already wet, the melt is likely to flow away. But if the ground is dry, he said, it soaks in even deeper. Without the melt to fall back on, farmers will be praying for rain — harder than they have in years. James Schiller, who farms 1,240 acres south of Grand Coulee, said he asks God for good weather. His faith helps him deal with the uncertainty of farming. He remembers last year’s dry conditions were easy to face, because of that reserve of moisture. Not this year. “This year we’re going in with next to nothing,” he said. “It was bone dry toward the end of the year. Deep down in the soil, there’s not much at all.” But Schiller isn’t only praying — he’s also thinking about contingency plans. He said he might change his seeding rotation to emphasize crops, such as durum, that can better withstand drought. Beach said he’ll take similar precautions. “Some crops will hang in better in really dry conditions,” he said. “Hard red spring wheat, it’s a pretty hardy plant out here, as opposed to, say, an oat crop.” Lentils are good too, he said. Peas, “not so much.” But he said he might also choose to leave more land fallow, or at least grow less cash crops. Hertz said he doesn’t expect to see “wholesale shifts” in crop rotations. But farmers are likely to take a more conservative approach if the drought continues until seeding, he said. They might hold off on inputs like fertilizer until the weather improves. However, the crop, he stressed, will still go in the ground. Farmers rarely give up hope. “We’re consummate optimists,” he said. “You wouldn’t be in this game if you weren’t.” Source - http://leaderpost.com