Farmers are just about ready to get this year’s crop in the ground, but they need to be aware of an increased risk of herbicide carryover this season.

Daphne Cruise, Cropping Management Specialist for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, says dry conditions last year meant residue left by a number of herbicides did not have a chance to break down completely.

"A lot of those persistent herbicides rely on moisture as well as soil microbial activity to help break them down," she said. "A lot of microbial activity is also dependent on the soil moisture to activate all that break down. A lot of those factors are obviously dependent on the amount of moisture we had during the growing season in 2017."

Cruise says the areas most at risk for herbicide carryover are mostly in the southwest.

"We kind of talk about less then 75 millimetres of rain from that mid-June to mid-September and that's kind of the area," she said. "A lot of Saskatchewan basically is in risk, and southern Saskatchewan kind of south of the number one highway and a bit more to the west is our higher risk area because of the limited rainfall."

Cruise adds farmers should consult the Crop Protection Guide for more information about residual herbicides, including the length of time the residue persists and the crops that are affected.