Wild rice harvesting in northern Saskatchewan. Photo courtesy of Kandis Riese, Riese Photography.
Wild rice harvesters in northern Saskatchewan are having one of their worst years in recent memory.
“I myself need more than two million pounds, and this year we’ve got less than half a million pounds,” said the Executive Secretary of the Wild Rice Association, Lynn Riese. “It’s the worst year we’ve had since 2005.”
Wild rice is produced on lakes in Northern Saskatchewan. Farmers operate propeller boats that collect rice by knocking it off its stems and into nets on the vessel. While this year has seen a suboptimal output for most farmers, Riese remains hopeful for the future.
“It’s all bad, but up in Canoe Lake, there are a few good harvesters, but other than that, I don’t think a lot of people did very good this year,” said Riese. “I’ve been doing this for thirty years, and every few years we’ll just have a bad harvest. Luckily for us, it’s only one in five or ten, that’s the good news.”
2015 and 2016 were exceptional for the industry, with nearly twice as much rice being produced than in 2014.
Another great crop was expected this year, but unfortunately for rice farmers, that did not pan out.