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Concerns about dry weather as seeding continues

May 19, 2016 | 2:14 PM

While it’s too early to start talking “drought,” an acting cropping management specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture says the dry conditions are a concern.

“Certainly even though most of the province got rain last week, the northwest region missed out on a lot of that,” Shannon Friesen said. “So topsoil moisture conditions are getting quite dry over there. Most of the crop that has been seeded is likely to just sit in the ground until some adequate moisture comes along.

“We do have some subsoil moisture, but it is that topsoil moisture that is lacking in much of the region. So at the moment even though it’s still quite dry there’s still time for that rain to come and improve things.”

The warm, dry weather is allowing seeding to advance. But producers will need a few more weeks yet. The crop report for May 10 to 16 says 53 per cent of the crop is in the ground in the west-central district, a big jump from 26 per cent one week earlier and ahead of the five-year average of 30 per cent. The biggest advance in that area is in district 7B which includes Kerrobert, Macklin, Wilkie and Biggar. Seventy-five per cent of the fields have been seeded there, and some farmers will be done within a week.

In the northwest area, progress is at 56 per cent. The greatest progress is in district 9B, which includes the Lloydminster and Meadow Lake areas. It’s at 71 per cent compared with 39 per cent for district 9AW, including the Battlefords and Hafford.

The report says topsoil moisture is deteriorating. Forty-two per cent of cropland top soil in the northwest is short moisture, and three per cent is very short. The numbers are even worse for hay and pasture land. In the west-central area 14 per cent of cropland and 19 per cent of hay and pasture land is very short.

Rain did help the northeastern part of the province, but seeding lags behind as a result, at 29 per cent. Crop district 9AE which includes Prince Albert, is at 61 per cent complete. In southwestern Saskatchewan some producers have actually finished seeding.

Crops will need rain for germination and emergence. During the week the Outlook area received 68 millimetres of rain, and the Duck Lake area had 10 mm, but other areas had traces of rain at best.

There is some good news after frost hit the region: crops were mostly unaffected.

“We actually lucked out,” Friesen said. “That was either because the crops that are most vulnerable such as canola had either not been seeded or had not yet emerged. So in fact, that’s where some of these cooler conditions, maybe some of these drier conditions, may have benefited us.”

The crop with the most seeding progress is field peas, at 84 per cent. At the other end of the spectrum is canola at 39 per cent.

 

gsmith@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @smithco