37 Our Advertisers Appreciate Your Business Better Farming | January 2024 Ag Insights “This week, the Saskatchewan Crop Report is reporting the province is ...” These words can be heard every Thursday during the summer over the noon hour on almost all radio outlets across Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan Crop Report has become a comfortable ally for producers and the agriculture industry, with over 2,000 daily readers during the growing season. It gives weekly soil moisture and rainfall updates while also reporting on crop conditions and growth staging, water quality and supply for livestock and harvest, and seeding progress depending on the time of year. It also gives Saskatchewan producers a voice. The report is written based on the information provided in weekly surveys completed by over 200 volunteers. Starting before seeding and ending just after harvest, crop reporters put Saskatchewan’s agriculture industry on display globally. The province produces consistent, high-quality products needed to feed the world. In 2022, Saskatchewan was the world’s leading exporter in dry peas, lentils, durum, canola oil and meal, canary seed and oats. The world has its eye on Saskatchewan every growing season and counts on the high-quality goods produced to meet the growing demand for food. Commodity groups and markets depend on reliable information to make informed decisions. The crop report has taken many different forms over the years. The report, as we now know it, started in 1974, with information mailed in by each reporter and landing on the desk of the author in the statistics section of the Saskatchewan Department of Agriculture. The data was synthesized, typed up on a typewriter and sent out. And just like that, a weekly tradition emerged. Maps soon entered the report; they were made and shaded by hand. Crop reporters were also given the option to call in their reports on Sundays and Mondays, with dedicated staff hired to take their calls. Soon fax became an option, and the data submission times shifted to Tuesdays and Wednesdays. In the last 15 years, the report has been written by the Regional Services Branch of the Ministry of Agriculture, specifically out of the Moose Jaw office. Crop reporters now have the option to submit their reports online or call into the Agriculture Knowledge Centre and provide a resource agent with data. In the last 50 years, the Saskatchewan Crop Report has given momentary glimpses into an evolving industry. While the internal procedures of the report have changed, with the SASKATCHEWAN'S CROP REPORT The popular resource has been around for 50 years. By Mackenzie Hladun, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture Tracy Miller photo The Saskatchewan Crop Report tells the stories of the producers who contribute to it.
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