A combine harvests wheat in September 1952 at the Matador Co-operative farm in what's now the RM of Lacadena, about 65 km north of Swift Current, Sask.

Precipitation cycles: When will the dry cycle end?

There's no way to predict from here what the 2024 growing season will provide

Many farmers in the Brown and Dark Brown soil zones of the Palliser Triangle have spent a few years now looking at the sky and hoping for rain. In some areas the snowmelt went straight to soil moisture and was a big factor in providing something for the trucker to do. But multiple years with […] Read more


Tim French/iStock/Getty Images

Prairie forecast: More much-needed moisture expected

Issued Feb. 29, covering Feb. 29 to March 6, 2024

Cold Arctic air has invaded the Prairies much to many people’s surprise. We have gotten so used to mild spring-like weather that some people may be put off that winter has returned. For those who read my last column, this type of weather shouldn't be surprising since we are now moving into what can be the snowiest time of the year.

Prairie forecast update: Storms roll in

Prairie forecast update: Storms roll in

Updates forecast issued Feb. 21, 2024

The weather models are coming into agreement with up coming storm system. The low was forecasted to develop over southern Alberta on Sunday with widespread snow developing to the north and west of the low. This placed the Edmonton region in the main snow band with 10 or so centimetres forecasted to fall across this region. The snow should move out quickly on Monday as cold arctic air pours southwards behind the low dropping temperatures to below average, but only for a couple of day.



Photo: Korey Peterson/iStock/Getty Images

Prairie forecast: Mild start, then a chance of storms

Issued Feb. 21, covering Feb. 21 to 28, 2024

Sunshine prevailed a fair bit more over the last forecast period than expected and so did the milder temperatures. Oh, sure there were a couple of cold nights, especially over the eastern half of the prairies, but overall, temperatures ended up being about 2 to 4 C warmer than what was forecasted.


Twelve binders at work near Wilcox, Sask., in what's now the RM of Bratt's Lake, year unknown.

Where the wheat was

Let's track 85 years of hard red spring wheat yields in Saskatchewan, by RM

The folks at Saskatchewan’s ministry of agriculture have produced a digital dashboard that has a complete record of wheat yields for each rural municipality all the way back to 1938. It is an Excel file, 20.5 MB in size, which means a lot of numbers. It’s very easy to select any RM in the province […] Read more

Saskatchewan crop boards under new leadership

The new year has come with a lot of newness at Saskatchewan’s crop development boards, as two approved a merger and two others elected new leaders last month. SaskCanola and SaskFlax saw formal voting on an amalgamation plan during the two organizations’ annual general meetings and the plan “was met with widespread approval,” they said. […] Read more


Saskatchewan-born players on the SJHL’s 12 teams are now labelled with this decal on their helmets.

Editor’s Rant: Playing the long game

I think I’ve recently alarmed a few people who know me, as I’ve taken a much greater interest in watching hockey on TV. It surprises me too. I moved to Winnipeg not long before the previous iteration of the Jets bolted for Arizona, which left me even more soured on most pro sports. (After the […] Read more