By News

Prince Albert area farmers slowly catching up

May 19, 2016 | 3:02 PM

Cool, wet conditions have slowed farmers down in the Prince Albert and Melfort but all is not lost.

According to this week’s crop, 30 per cent has now seeded in the east-central region.

This compares to 17 per cent last week, and the five-year average of 16 per cent.

Shannon Friesen with Saskatchewan Agriculture said there were some reports of frost last week, but there was only minimal damage to the Canola crop.

“Mostly because they had not been seeded or they had not yet emerged so certainly we were very lucky last week,” she said.

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Provincially, 51 per cent of the crop is in the ground. For the majority of farmers, the precipitation was exactly what they needed.

“In fact many produces are calling it a million dollar rain. Prior to that, things were getting a bit dry in many parts of the province but now that we’ve had some moisture, things are looking up again,” Friesen said.

Topsoil moisture conditions have greatly improved in many regions thanks to the recent rain, however some areas in the province will still need rain in the coming weeks to help crops germinate and emerge.

Cropland topsoil moisture is rated as six per cent surplus, 77 per cent adequate, 13 per cent short and four per cent very short.  

Hay land and pasture topsoil moisture is rated as three per cent surplus, 71 per cent adequate, 21 per cent short and five per cent very short.  

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