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Cereals are doing well with the heat as they have enough of a moisture reserve to put that towards yield potential.
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While heat coming down this week might remind people of the droughts over the past couple of years that impacted the southeast, farmers are actually thankful for a bit of heat.

While rainfall was below average in July, cooler temperatures through the spring along with a good helping of rain helped that moisture to stay in the ground where it's needed.

Agrologist Edgar Hammermeister says how crops respond to this heat will depend on what kind is planted.

"It's going to have a gradient depending on the crop type, the cereals I think are loving it. We have been behind in heat units through the heat accumulation for the crops through the springtime. So we are a little bit behind relative to when we started seeding. So that once it's really helping the cereal crops move along well."

"For the canola crop, a lot of the canola crops are starting, are flowering now or just about to start and canola does not like the high heat during the flowering period, there is a risk of flower abortion during that period."

A high-heat system like this may pose more of a hazard to moisture levels earlier in the year, but by now most crops are well enough established to help out their reserves.

"I think because the crop is well canopied now the moisture is going through the plant and being used in yield production. We're not losing as much from straight evaporation from the soil. We have very good soil moisture reserves for, largely SE Saskatchewan."

Not all areas of Saskatchewan made out so well, with western areas receiving a bit less rain and a bit more heat.

"Understand there's some pockets in Western Saskatchewan that unfortunately just missed the weather systems that came through. But in Southeast Saskatchewan, we've got very good moisture reserves and we'll be able to handle this heat for a little while and maybe with the weekend, showers give a little refresher. 

The showers that will come through won't have a big impact on how the crop fares, with humidity bringing in some relief, especially for more heat-sensitive crops like canola.

"There's something that is better this year compared to the heat that we had last year, is that this year we do have humidity. As much as that makes it uncomfortable for us, for the crops, it does help them tolerate the temperatures a lot more than in other years, and with canola, I just mentioned their sensitivity to the heat. But it's the combination of, well, how hot does it get and for how long and what is the humidity, so it's quite a combination that comes into getting back the canola crop."

"One good thing about the research that has been put in by companies and universities is that the varieties are far more heat tolerant now compared to what they were ten years ago, and so it's not as great an impact. But at any time you're above 30°C, it's chipping away at that yield potential." 

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