Seeding is well above the five year average for this time of year in the province. (file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Brady Lang

in the field

Spring seeding progressing in the area

May 24, 2019 | 10:29 AM

With summer now on the horizon, seeding in the area has been going smoothly, according to the latest crop report.

Throughout the province, 73 per cent of the crop is now seeded, which is a big jump from last week’s report of 38 per cent. When it comes to the five-year average, the numbers coming out this week also are higher than the past estimation of 59 per cent.

Here in the Battlefords, and the northwest region, 68 per cent of the crop has hit the soil, thanks in part to consistent conditions. Darcy Loewen, who farms south of Glenbush, said seeding is going relatively smoothly.

“We got kind of a late start,” he said. “But now were (doing) pretty good, the moisture has been good.”

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Loewen said that there’s always something every day, but when it comes to the moisture, they’ve been lucky with over half an inch of rain last week. He mentioned that the wet snow also did help a little bit, and it’s been a bit cooler than other years in the morning, with frost also hitting his land earlier on in the week.

If Loewen had to pick something that he could change going into this next week or two with seeding, it wouldn’t be something that is control with the weather.

“Longer days,” he said. “We’ve been pretty good going. We can’t really complain,;it just takes time.”

Of the 4,000 acres Loewen farms, he’s around halfway done putting seeding as of this week.

In terms of the crop report, the southwest region is the most advanced, with 84 per cent of the crop now in the ground. The northeast is the least advanced at 62 per cent.

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brady.lang@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @BradyLangBFN