By Alice McFarlane

Rain delays seeding for Saskatchewan farmers

Jun 1, 2023 | 2:57 PM

Scattered showers around the province this week delayed some seeding operations.

According to the latest Ministry of Agriculture crop report for the week of May 23 to 29 there were varying amounts of precipitation.

The entire province received trace amounts of rain at some point with the Arborfield region getting 69 mm while Borden recorded 67 mm. The Earl Grey area has recorded 205 mm of rain so far this year.

The recent rain has restored topsoil moisture levels across the province and even brought some areas of the province into excess levels. Provincially, five per cent of cropland has surplus soil moisture, 76 per cent is adequate, 17 per cent is short and two per cent is very short. Sixteen per cent of the northeast of the province has a surplus of soil moisture, while six per cent of the southwest is very short.

Lanigan area farmer Clinton Monchuk said farmers in his areas are very close to being done.

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“The vast majority of farmers are nearing completion or already completed here in the Lanigan area. I’m just reseeding some of my fall rye that didn’t come up so great this year. We’re just putting in some barley,” Monchuk said. “I’d say this week, the vast majority will finish up.”

Currently, Saskatchewan producers are 89 per cent seeded, which is just behind the five-year average of 92 per cent.

The northwest has 97 per cent of this year’s crop in the ground, the west central is 94 per cent seeded, and the southwest is 90 per cent seeded. The area with the least amount of seeding complete is the southeast at 80 per cent.

Monchuk said the earlier seeded crops have begun emerging.

“In fact, we’re already doing in crop herbicide application right now on some of them. The crop is really coming up nice. There’s plenty of moisture right here right now,” Monchuk said. “But as always, you’re only a couple of weeks away from drying things out. The forecast looks pretty good, and it looks like we’ll have some good rains to keep things going.”

Crops around the province are in excellent to good condition. Spring wheat is currently rated as being in the best condition, with 27 per cent of the province’s crop being excellent and 60 per cent being good. This is followed by barley at 23 per cent excellent, 65 per cent good and pea at 23 per cent excellent, 64 per cent good.

Pasture and hay land topsoil moisture levels also increased this past week – three per cent of pasture and hay land have excess topsoil moisture, 69 per cent have adequate, 24 per cent are short, and 4 per cent are very short. Like cropland, 14 per cent of the northeast has a surplus of topsoil moisture and 10 per cent of the northwest is very short.

Generally, there is little crop damage in the province, although there have been reports of flea beetle and grasshoppers found in emerging crops.

Monchuk said scouting is an important part of his routine.

“We do our flea beetle looks and see if there’s anything kind of nipped off any of the cotyledons or leaves of our mustard or canola. As of right now, nothing of any significant numbers, so we cross our fingers and hope it stays that way,” he said.

Monchuk said you can do everything right, but those timely June showers are crucial to crop development.

“That kind of gets it through just in case we get some really hot dry weather in July but right now things look really good and the crop is progressing nicely, especially with warmer temperatures,” he said.

For many producers, this is still a stressful time of year and producers are encouraged to take all safety precautions in all the work they do. The Farm Stress Line can help by providing support for producers toll-free at 1-800-667-4442.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW