Promising crop gives Saskatchewan farmer reason to be optimistic

A lot of things have gone right this year for farmer Jared Haight. Although he’s feeling very optimistic about how his crop is shaping up, there is still plenty of uncertainty ahead for the owner and operator of Hundred Acre Farms near Hanley, Sask.

Global News first visited Haight on his farm during spring seeding in May.

At the time, Haight told us he had been focusing on initiating the process of preparing his fields for canola, wheat, barley, durum and lentils.

Since then, his fields have transformed from empty brown acres to vibrant green fields of durum and bright yellow canola. Now, at roughly the midway point of the growing season, Haight likes what he sees.

“Generally, we’re excited,” he said. “As a team, we’ve put in a lot of long hours and a lot of hard work. So, it’s nice to see where it is.”

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In fact, a crop like this can be a bit of a rarity. Over a 10-year period, Haight says he might only have two or three years in which a crop looks as good as his current one.

Haight and his team have been spraying his fields for fusarium, a fungal disease found in soil. Massive pivots, stretching far across his field, are providing moisture where needed.

He said it also gives it “that extra inch or inch and a half if we don’t have anything coming up, to really push it over the top.”

At this point, his crops look almost perfect, but farmers know how quickly that can change. A hailstorm, too much rain, or weeks without any at all can undo months of work in a matter of minutes. Now the focus is on protecting that crop. But it’s not just the weather that is creating uncertainty.

The Strait of Hormuz, where tensions remain through an ongoing conflict in the Middle East, will have a big impact on Haight’s bottom line. He says year-over-year, he is about 40 per cent higher on his fuel spend this season.

“And that is a big impact. We’re going to use 120,000 litres to put the crop in the ground and to harvest it. And another 30 or 40 percent on that, that’s a pretty big number,” Haight added.

Haight said he is excited about the potential of this year’s crop, but after years of farming, he knows better than to count on anything until the grain is safely in the bin.

Until then, he will focus on the factors that are in his control and keep his fingers crossed for anything that isn’t.