An unidentified pest has devastated this year’s wild rice crop in northern Saskatchewan, throwing some gatherers into financial crisis and raising concerns about the future of the crop and the local economies it fuels.
Several pickers around Lac La Ronge, Morin Lake and Pinehouse Lake say when they began their first round of harvesting earlier this month, they found many empty seeds and small, worm-like creatures eating the plants.
Phyllis Smith, who has grown 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. I used to harvest an average of 300 bags. The most I’ve harvested in my lake is about 800 bags of rice,” she said. “We only did 15 bags about five days ago when we harvested.”
WATCH | Wild rice producer shares video of worm-like pests:
This video, taken by a wild rice producer in northern Saskatchewan, shows an unidentified pest devastating an already weakened wild rice crop.
Sheridan Hamilton, who has been growing wild rice near Morin Lake for three years, said she had already left for the season when it became clear there wouldn’t be much of a harvest. She said they noticed some pests last year, but the harvest was still plentiful.
“This year we sent our guys out and they came back with empty, empty bags,” she said. “Usually the bags weigh about 50 pounds and are as light as a feather.”
More extreme temperatures during key germination and fertilization periods, fluctuating water levels and perhaps the impact of heavier smoke from forest fires have created a “perfect storm” that weakens plants and causes a period of crop failure, and pests appear to be making things worse, say scientists working with local foragers.
They claim the pests are most likely the larvae of some species of moth or beetle.
It’s a huge blow to pickers, processors, buyers and local community members, many of whom are Indigenous, who rely on the work and income the harvest brings. Hamilton said that unlike previous years of crisis, she hasn’t been able to harvest enough to replant even one of her fields, let alone all six.
“I’m a little confused because nobody knows what it is, and that’s sad,” Hamilton said. “Obviously we don’t have a profit, we don’t have jobs for the community, which, because we’re a remote reservation, a lot of these people are excited and rely on the harvest as a source of employment and to get out on the lake.”
‘People Depend on It’: Researcher
Tim Sharbel, a professor of plant science at the University of Saskatchewan, said urgent action is needed to determine what pests are causing the disease, as well as to protect the plant’s economic importance and its status as a sacred and traditional plant.
He leads a research team that works with indigenous communities to increase the sustainability of the wild rice industry as climate change impacts growing conditions.
“Everyone we spoke to talked about the total destruction of crops,” Sharbel said.
He said the research team plans to ask the province for emergency funding to conduct a winter pest survey in hopes of protecting crops next season. They suspect adjusting harvest time could be a way to mitigate the problem by removing rice before pests appear.
“People rely on this,” Sharbel said. “It’s a significant loss of economic autonomy.”
He added that some people are already taking matters into their own hands.
“Some people who collect them literally dig up the bottom of the lake and try to push them out of the way onto the shore and burn them,” Sharbel said. “Some people don’t even collect. They just go out in boats and let the plants just release their seeds.”
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement Friday that it was aware of the situation and that live samples would be needed to confirm whether the pests might include a type of rice worm or, as photos might suggest, the larvae of the rice moth (Schneiderker) that feeds on corn.
Saskatchewan officials said there have been no significant rice worm outbreaks in the region since 2000.
“Because these are rare pests, the province does not monitor any of these insects,” the statement reads.
“While there are products registered for the control of rice worm in wild rice, this is organic production in natural aquatic systems and there are no products registered for the control of this species in this context.”
Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. has been insuring wild rice crops since 2006, with claims filed when production in a given region falls below historical averages, the province said.
