Mice populations are on the rise in parts of Saskatchewan and Alberta, due to conditions in fields providing an ideal refuge for the critters.

John Ippolito, Regional Crop Specialist for Kindersley, said they first discovered the problem in October of last year.

"It was encountered shortly after the snow in October, once the crop dried up after that snow, we did find that there was a significant amount of mice in the field," Ippolito said. "Kind of a unique situation, they had lots of ground cover and of course, a large food source."

He said that fields with swathed crops on them appeared to be particularly rife with mice.

"Some of the swathed crop is expected to be the one that probably has more mice, in that the mice are actually living underneath the swaths or have for the winter. I know some growers that have indicated evidence that there have been significant mice feeding on grain in those swaths over the winter months."

Ippolito said there are two main concerns that come as a result of the mice in the fields.

"It is a concern for them, guys are worried about them in terms of harvest, whether they will be picked up by the harvesting equipment and what that impacts on grain quality. The other one is that growers are concerned about their personal health, in terms of contracting hantavirus."

Hantavirus infection is a rare but potentially fatal illness contracted most commonly from Deer Mice.

Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be much producers can do to combat the issue, according to Ippolito.

"There's really not much that can be done. I've had the odd individual express that maybe we should wait until the weather has warmed up significantly and maybe the mice will get out of the swaths. The other one (option) is just taking appropriate precautions, using the proper respirators and recommended personal hygiene practices."

While there will be some extra measures farmers will need to take, Ippolito thinks the mice will have very little impact on harvest.

"I don't think it's going to have an actual impact on harvest, other than their (producers) gonna have to take precautions that they maybe don't normally take. There may be some challenges with harvest because of what's there, but It's not going to be a huge impact I don't think."

He said the main precaution growers should take is to make sure you use a respirator when working with crops, that has a high-efficiency particulate filter, often referred to as a HEPA filter.