A researcher at the University of Regina says climate change has had an impact on farming over the last 50 years in Saskatchewan.

Professor Dave Sauchyn says climate change is difficult to detect in this province because of the extensive range of weather.

But overall, he says the temperature is 5 degrees warmer in winter and the growing season is a week or two longer than 50 or 60 years ago.

He says the summers are not warmer than the past but winters are much milder than the 1960’s.

Sauchyn, the director of the Prairie Adaption Research Collaborative, supports a recent Agriculture Canada report pointing to improved crop production on the prairies from future climate change.

The report says wheat yields could jump 23 per-cent and canola 13 percent in the future.

But Sauchyn says hail, drought, and frost will always be a challenge in the future.