By Ashley Kaminski, Crops Extension Specialist, Humboldt
Central Saskatchewan is not only filled with fields of wheat and canola, there’s also a wide variety of crop options available for the region. Other crops grown within this region, some of which are not as popular as others, are still viable options to increase diversity within a crop rotation. Pulses such as peas and lentils are quite prevalent in the central region, while oats are more common near the Yorkton area while mustard is grown mostly in the west part of the province. Flax is grown consistently throughout central Saskatchewan, but most of the acres show up in the west.
Minor crops grown in the region may include canary seed, coriander, winter wheat, fall rye, mustard and hemp. Canary seed is most commonly grown in the west part of central Saskatchewan around the Kindersley/Rosetown region, totalling over 68,000 acres in 2022. Winter wheat seems to fall more in the central to east part of the region. In 2022, there were over 13,000 acres of winter wheat in this area. Fall rye acres have been more centralized and overall, we grew over 11,000 acres in central Saskatchewan in 2022. Mustard acres are greatest in western Saskatchewan, although there are still acres in central Saskatchewan. Nearly 55,000 acres of mustard were grown in west central Saskatchewan, with 74,000 acres being the total recorded Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation (SCIC) mustard acres in central Saskatchewan in 2022. Only a few hundred acres of hemp were recorded in central Saskatchewan for 2022, but more have been grown in previous years.*
*Crop acre data was retrieved from SCIC from 2022 data from risk zones in central Saskatchewan.
When trying a new crop on your operation, you may want to consider a few things before committing too many acres. Here are a few tips before trying a new crop:
- Establish your market. Talk to different grain-buying companies and see what is available for market opportunities close to your operation. What kind of logistics are involved in delivering grain? Who is responsible for delivering?
- Know your fertilizer requirements. Depending on what crop you are growing and the soil type in your zone of operation, the fertilizer requirements might need to be adjusted to meet targeted crop yields and quality. Talk to an agronomist to get an idea of the crop fertilizer needs and arrange a soil test to determine which nutrients are deficient. Also, discuss the safe rates of nutrients to be seed-placed.
- Understand potential disease and pest issues. This can be unpredictable due to environmental conditions year to year, but it’s important to plan out what issues could arise if conditions are ideal for insect and disease outbreaks. Learn what options are available if control is required?
- Know your machinery and storage requirements. Can the machinery in your operation handle the crop you want to grow? Small-seeded crops can be tough to combine without blowing out the back. Are there certain storage considerations that need to be planned through to safely store the grain? Hemp, for example, can have issues with fires in combines and can be a challenge at harvest time.
Central Saskatchewan has great potential for adding new crops to our rotations. Different field days throughout the summer, such as Agri-Arm sites, have minor crops to display how they would make out in that region. For further information, contact your local Ministry of Agriculture crop extension specialists.
You can also contact your local SCIC office for more details on adding minor crops to your rotation and insurance policy.