Unidentified pest devastates already weakened wild rice crop in northern Sask.
Researcher urges rapid action to protect economically and culturally important crops for Indigenous growers
An unidentified pest has devastated this year's wild rice harvest in northern Saskatchewan, throwing some harvesters into financial crisis, and prompting concerns for the future of the crop and the local economies it helps drive.
Several harvesters around Lac La Ronge, Morin Lake and Pinehouse Lake say that when they began the first round of harvesting earlier this month, they discovered many kernels empty and small, worm-like creatures eating the plants.
Phyllis Smith, who has cultivated and harvested wild rice for most of her life, said she and elders in the Métis community of Pinehouse have "never seen anything like this before."
"This year is the worst I've ever seen. Usually I would pick an average of 300 bags. The most I picked in my lake was about 800 bags of rice," she said. "We barely made 15 bags just about five days ago when we picked."
WATCH | A wild rice producer shares video of the worm-like pests:
Sheridan Hamilton, who has grown wild rice near Morin Lake for the last three years, said she has already left for the season after it became clear there wasn't going to be much of a harvest. She said they noticed some of the pests last year, but it was still a strong harvest.
"This year, we sent our guys out and they came back with just empty, empty bags," she said. "Usually the bags are about 50 pounds filled with rice, and they were light as a feather."
More extreme temperatures during key germination and fertilization windows, fluctuating water levels and perhaps the impact of heavier wildfire smoke have created the "perfect storm" to weaken the plants into a bust season, and the pests appear to be exacerbating it, according to a team of researchers working with harvesters in the area.
They say the pests are likely larvae of some type of moth or beetle.
It's a huge hit to harvesters, processors, buyers and local community members, many of whom are Indigenous and count on the work and revenue harvest brings. Hamilton said that unlike in past bust years, she wasn't able to harvest enough to reseed even one of her fields, let alone all six.
"I'm just confused a little bit, because nobody knows what it is, and it's sad," said Hamilton. "Obviously we have no profit, no jobs for the community, which like, since we're a remote reserve, a lot of these people are excited and rely on the harvest for employment opportunities and to get out on the lake."
'People rely on this': researcher
Tim Sharbel, a professor of plant sciences at the University of Saskatchewan, said urgent action is needed to figure out what the pests are, and how to protect the crop's economic importance and status as a sacred and traditional plant.
He leads a research team partnering with Indigenous communities in the area to improve the durability and sustainability of the wild rice industry as climate change impacts growing conditions.
"Everyone we talked to is talking about absolute decimation of the crop," said Sharbel.
He said the research team is planning to ask the province for emergency funding to conduct a study on the pests over the winter in hopes of helping protect the crops by next season. They suspect adjusting the timing of harvest may be a way to help mitigate the problem by removing the rice before the pests take hold.
"People rely on this," said Sharbel. "So it's a significant loss of economic autonomy."
He said some are already taking matters into their own hands.
"Some harvesters are literally digging up the lake bed and trying to push it out, out of the way onto the side of the lake and burn it," Sharbel said. "Some people, they're not even harvesting. They're just going to basically go through with their boats and let the plants just release their seeds."
In a statement on Friday, Saskatchewan's Ministry of Agriculture said it was aware of the situation and that live samples will be needed to confirm whether the pests may include a type of rice worm or, as photos may suggest, the larvae of rice stalk borer moths.
There hasn't been a significant rice worm outbreak in Saskatchewan since 2000, the province said.
"Since these are infrequent pests, there is no monitoring conducted by the province for either insect," said the statement.
"While there are products registered to control wild rice worm in wild rice, this is organic production in natural aquatic systems and there are no products registered to control these species in this context."
The Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. has provided insurance on wild rice crops since 2006, and claims are triggered when a region reports production below historical averages, the province said.
With files from Samanda Brace and Moira Wyton