Reports of an early frost in parts of the western grain belt have some Saskatchewan farmers checking their fields for damage.

Environment Canada reported freezing temperatures in Meadow Lake in the northwest and Eastend in the southwest corner over the weekend. The coldest place in the province was Val Marie in the Cypress Hills region, which dipped down to -2.4 C, the federal agency said.

A Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. official says it hasn't started to process any claims yet, but expects farmers are likely assessing their fields.

Saskatchewan Agriculture spokeswoman Shannon Friesen said it's unusual to see frost this early in the season.

"Our 30-year average for the first fall frost typically doesn't happen until mid-September to late September," she said Monday. Brent Flaten, integrated pest management specialist for Saskatchewan Agriculture in Moose Jaw, agreed frost in August is "definitely early, especially for Saskatchewan. It's one thing for (the area) west of the Highway 2 corridor in Alberta on the higher elevations to get frost in August. But the average (for Saskatchewan) is around mid-September."

Flaten added farmers are "assessing the damage," but said no reports of frost damage have been received by Saskatchewan Agriculture yet.

Canola crops may be susceptible to frost damage if they're green and not fully mature.

"It's those late-seeded crops, those late-maturing crops" that are vulnerable to frost damage, he said.

The good news is that many areas received rain over the weekend, which will mitigate the impact of frost. In addition, with crop maturity ahead of the longterm average, plants are less susceptible to frost damage.

"Most crops are far enough advanced that they aren't damaged (by frost)," Flaten said. "If there was lots of dew and some rain before (the frost) and the plants are wet, sometimes frost can occur on the pods, but not affect the seeds inside the pods."

With temperatures just a couple of degrees below freezing, crop damage from frost is likely to be minimal.

"With this warm weather, (farmers) are going to have to ... see whether those pods are damaged and whether the seeds are damaged," he said.

"If the frost is very light and there was moisture in the air, there might not be any damage. If you have localized areas going down to minus 5 (degrees C) without a lot of humidity or moisture on the plant, that could be damaging," Flaten said.

Source - http://www.thestarphoenix.com