Crops in the Weyburn area are all in immediate need of a long rain, some are desperate for rain, and many farmers are spraying more grasshopper poison than they have in 20 years.

Area farmers contacted by The Weyburn Review on Monday say both the moisture and grasshopper situation is not good.

The worst-hit area may be east of Weyburn where Weyburn RM reeve Dan Sidloski said over 50 per cent of the crops are quickly approaching the disaster stage.

"On the later-seeded fields, 50 per cent has nothing growing on it and the other 50 per cent has something standing there but it's not good," he said.

"I don't know if the later crops germinated or if they germinated and died already." These late crops will probably be a write-off whether or not it rains in the next few days, he said.

The other 30-40 per cent of crops which were seeded early are still looking fairly good and starting to head out, said Sidloski. "But we're starting to see moisture stress there, too. They're only starting to flower in full."

Without rain very soon, those crops will provide very limited production, he said.

Even if the early crops turn out to be good and something is salvageable from the later crops, "I can't see how we can hit an average yield at all," he said. "In my corner of the RM there will be fields where the combine won't go at all this fall, unless there is a dramatic change."

The grasshopper story in that area is just as dismal. Sidloski said he felt he had to spray 1,000 of his 2,000 acres of cropland, far more than he's sprayed since the 1985 infestation. "I don't believe in spraying whole fields. It kills everything. But it was that kind of situation. If the crop is to have a chance, I had to get the weeds and 'hoppers out of it."

In David Pattyson's area south of Tribune, farmers are using so much grasshopper poison that suppliers are having trouble keeping up. "But farmers are keeping ahead of the grasshopper population," he said.

"They're in control, but only just." Farmers find they have to scout their fields for new hatches almost every day, he said.

Tribune area crops are also in dire need of rain but they're not talking about a disaster.

"The crops look relatively good but every day without rain, in this heat and wind, is costing us in yield," he said. "Within a week, if we have no rain, we won't have much of a crop."

Pattyson said his drives through the area in the past couple of weeks show a great variation in the condition of crops. "Some are faring a lot better than others."

Norm Flaten agrees in his area, west of Weyburn, the outlook is mixed.

"Some people have very favourable crops and some have considerable problems," he said. At least 50 per cent of the crops look good, he estimates, although even those need rain to take advantage of the nutrients in the dry surface soil.

Subsoil moisture remains very good in his area, he said.

But some farmers to the west are battling both heavy weed and grasshopper infestations, using far more chemicals than usual, as well as poor germination.

Spraying has been a considerable challenge this year, also, because of the number of windy days. "Then the wind has to be in the right direction so you don't hit sensitive crops or the (farm) yard," he said.

In the Pangman area, Tom Kessler predicts crops will be totally lost in a week to 10 days if current conditions continue. It's really dry in both the cropland and the pastures and the grasshoppers are very bad, he said. "Some crops are already turning yellow," he said.

Foxtail contamination is widespread, even in the hayland where herbicide can't be used.

Saskatchewan agriculture and food's extension agrologist Elaine Moats said farmers are working hard to get their hay crops in early as hay loses quality in this hot, dry weather.

"Most crops are hanging in there but they sure need a good drink." Moats said many farmers are hoping Fair Week in Weyburn will bring its usual rain.