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By Angela Brown

Hoping for a little more rain

Seeding mainly wrapped up now for NW Region; crops progressing nicely

Jun 4, 2021 | 2:11 PM

Producers in the North West Region and Battlefords area are seeing crops performing well overall, even in the current mainly dry conditions.

Charlie Smith, who farms in the Rabbit Lake area, said the rain received later in May, about two weeks ago, helped as well.

“They are coming in nice. They are starting to look okay,” he said.

Smith, who grows about 2,500 acres of wheat and canola, noticed the seeding season that is about wrapped up had an earlier start this year.

While the crop was a little slow developing at first due to the cooler weather and frost at first, it has seen an improvement since.

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“With the heat now, the crops are coming,” Smith said.

He is not too concerned about excessive heat at this point as the crop is young and is rooting down where there is still moisture in the soil.

Smith would like to see more rain in the next three to four days though.

“Even if we got half an inch to kind of moisten it up a bit,” he said, it would help.

The province reported for the May 25 to 31 period the Cando, Sask. area, just south of North Battleford, saw the most precipitation in Saskatchewan with 23 mm reported during the week.

“Rainfall received two weeks ago has helped with pasture conditions in the province, but more is needed,” the province said in a statement.

Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture regional crop specialist Alison Fransoo, PAg, told battlefordsNOW the warm weather has helped producers make a lot of headway in their seeding in the local region, similar to elsewhere in the province.

“It’s basically wrapped up, and ahead of schedule somewhat too this year, since there wasn’t as long a wait for the snow to melt,” she said.

Farmers will still require a bit more precipitation in about the next week ahead.

“I was out in the field yesterday… We are going to be in need of some [rain] to continue to carry the crop forward,” Fransoo said.

However, she noted the recent precipitation has brought the top-soil moisture to adequate levels for the NW Region.

Some of the larger crops planted this year in the area include canola, lentils, and lots of cereals, including plenty of barley and wheat.

Fransoo said there are fewer peas being grown than normal, mainly due to disease issues in the area from root rot.

Flea beetles on canola crops has also been an issue some producers are working through right now.

“The rain will help advance the crop where it is not going to get as damaged as badly by flea beetles,” Fransoo said.

There were some strong winds in the region about a week ago which can damage crops and dry out the soil a bit in addition to the heat. But since the crops are still quite small at this stage they aren’t as vulnerable.

Otherwise, Fransoo said conditions remain favourable for crop development overall currently. She would like to see a little more precipitation on the horizon, and a little bit of heat without it being extreme heat, just to “keep growing that crop,” she said.

“It has done some good catch up in the last week and a half,” she added.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow