HUSA Jun 4 2026 – Mike Bashutski

Drought vs Stuck in the Mud

Weather Challenges for Farmers: Farmers in Saskatchewan and parts of the U.S. are grappling with challenging weather conditions. A farmer from Saskatchewan recounts delayed planting due to wet conditions and contrasts this with some farmers in the U.S. experiencing drought. The weather has created difficult conditions, turning fields into mud and causing planting equipment to leave deep ruts that harden and complicate future work. This situation is contrasted with past dry seasons, emphasizing how variable and challenging farming conditions can be.

Listen in to this interview with co-host David Woodruff with Custom Harvester Mike Bashutski.

Transcript

Our co-host David Woodruff has Mike Bashutski from Saskatchewan.Let’s check in exactly where he is and what’s going on, because it’s quite opposite of what we’re facing in the U.S.

“I’m pretty much straight north of Minot over five hours, we’re kind of, pretty much a good way to post it.”

Now you have something, a field to do in Kansas, and you’re having a hard time getting out of the mud?

“I needed to be in Kansas here pretty quick. We’ve been delayed with a few little weather, I guess, to be part of one of them, with getting our crop put in the ground up here, and that factor, but, and yeah, just pushing the mud here.I hate to talk to the farmers in the States, because they’re bone dry, and then we’re pushing mud, but I mean, I know some of them are getting some rain, but it’s good for the upcoming year, but with the current crop, it’s kind of a write-off. Well, we got done here, just finished ground, but we got my son running the drill around the clock here to try and get done, because it was raining and spitting, and when you got a really muddy situation, it doesn’t take much to make it worse. Us and multiple other farmers with the bigger air drills, and they left ruts, and everybody’s shaking their heads, because then this, we had some hotter temperatures, probably, you know, bouncing up around a 90 degree there for a couple days, with probably 40-ish mile-an-hour winds, 45, so that any ruts you made, it just like turned them into cement.”

Mike Bashutski from Saskatchewan, Canada, facing opposite conditions than the harvesters here in the U.S.

We’re always praying for a little balance.