Impacts of precipitation and crop–tillage decisions on soil moisture regimes during the 2002 drought on the southern Canadian Prairies

During 2001 and 2002, concerns about drought and its impacts were realized across Canada's Prairie provinces. Research conducted in southern Saskatchewan examined soil moisture regimes and the impacts of precipitation (amount and timeliness) and producer decision-making on crop and tillage management. Although drought was very widespread on the Prairies during the 2002 growing season, some regions in the traditional dryland belt received sufficient rainfall to permit growing season activities to proceed. Without this modest yet timely precipitation, any growing season success would not have been feasible. Additionally, further complications arose as rainfall in the late growing season (August) caused delays to field harvest activities and reductions in overall crop quality. Summer fallow regimes, undertaken for the conservation of soil moisture, demonstrated success over the mid-growing season period. However, any soil water conservation that arose from fallowing vanished in August after a number of days with heavy rainfall. Surprisingly, and in response to a number of interrelated factors, water conservation in adjacent cropped fields was higher at the time of annual freeze-up. Hence, the summer fallow regime yielded no economic return to the producer, and soil moisture resources were less when compared to fields that had been cropped. The complex interplay between agricultural producers and the available, and potentially available, environmental resources for annual crop production demonstrate serious and somber decisions being faced in land management and crop choices.