Friday Crop Report on a Thursday!

[blackpowder]

Depending on subsoil structure.
Here, along hiways it's crap in a dry year. Disturbance during construction, never the same.
Also, a roadbed or berm, creates a compaction dam. Lateral migration of groundwater affected. Water impeded wicks up and leaves salts behind in the clays upon evaporation. Cost me $5k to learn that one.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Don't think it was water running off the roads. Because it was up on the ridge on the opposite side of the ditch. Although there were places where they farm right up to the road where you could see significantly better crop right next to the ditch where the water had ran off the road.
Very straight and very consistent. Not sure there was anything to catch snow in the wide open prairie.
Never places where the entire rest of the field was basically dead, but this strip of green along the roads
Another possibility is all the decades of discers and plows have thrown that much extra topsoil to the outside. Assuming there's somewhere in the center of these fields with no topsoil left.
My experience is similar to Black powders. The Disturbed ground never grows the same again, water infiltration never seems to recover after being disturbed. Except we don't have the salts to deal with out here.
We have one lease road at the bottom of a slope. All the topsoil from the lease road got spread out along the bottom edge of the field. Still has enough slope and water can't stand there, and the ditch along the lease road to drain it away, but it holds water so effectively that that side slope drowns out regularly.

[seldomseen]

I have a half section along a provincial highway that is always poor along the highway because of excessive water.
This was once a Sask grid road that the RM built and maintained. When it was a gravel road there was six culverts letting water find its way to the river and the land along the road was productive. In 1986 the government decided to rebuild it and pave it and the engineers at that time thought three culverts would be all that would be needed. Since that time that half section is always flooded with water back up by the highway.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I have a half section along a provincial highway that is always poor along the highway because of excessive water.
This was once a Sask grid road that the RM built and maintained. When it was a gravel road there was six culverts letting water find its way to the river and the land along the road was productive. In 1986 the government decided to rebuild it and pave it and the engineers at that time thought three culverts would be all that would be needed. Since that time that half section is always flooded with water back up by the highway.

Similar story around here in Big swamp country..
Originally the grid roads didn't go through any of the big draws. And the old timers said they could hay right through them every year. Then they finally put roads through, even with culverts, and that was the end of haying them. Must have blocked off the subsurface drainage. Because the culverts should take care of the surface drainage.
But the size and quantity of culverts isn't adequate to handle spring runoff or the toad strangler rains.
And now the county isn't allowed to add any additional culverts without permission from Alberta environment, and no one wants to go there.

[seldomseen]

Years ago I talked to the highway people and showed them my problem.
They could care less if I was flooded every year and told me to quit wasting their time!

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Years ago I talked to the highway people and showed them my problem.
They could care less if I was flooded every year and told me to quit wasting their time!

Our county has found a brilliant solution to inadequate culverts. When the water regularly backs up because the culverts aren't big enough, they build the road higher so the water can't go over the top anymore.
I haven't had the pleasure of dealing with provincial highways.
I have wondered if it would be permissible to do a road bore underneath the road and pull a piece of pipe through to add capacity, and lower the water level below the existing culverts.

[woodland]

Our county has found a brilliant solution to inadequate culverts. When the water regularly backs up because the culverts aren't big enough, they build the road higher so the water can't go over the top anymore.
I haven't had the pleasure of dealing with provincial highways.
I have wondered if it would be permissible to do a road bore underneath the road and pull a piece of pipe through to add capacity, and lower the water level below the existing culverts.

I thought our county was the only one to think water will flow uphill to the culvert…………… apparently not. I’m not an engineer though………. Just a guy in the bush with a set of eyes and a transit level to make sure😉

[SASKFARMER]

This sums up the leadership in Canada

[GALAXIE500]

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When I grow up , I want a tractor like the one in the first picture! A Carbon Tax abusing , big horsepower, easy to maintain , no frills beast!

[bucket]

Around here a BTO , one of the largest in Saskatchewan, is silaging their canola.