Busy times ahead

The last few weeks have seen two massive precipitation events. For the time being, drought fears have been largely eliminated on the western Prairies. In some eastern regions of Saskatchewan, excess moisture is now a problem. The prospects for pasture and hay are looking good. In addition to the moisture, there has been a limited amount of frost this spring. The grass is thriving and the trees are greener, sooner than usual. Producers are itching to get seeding, but even after the rain stops it’s going to take a while for fields to be dry enough. There’s lots of time to get the crop in the ground, but if the weather turns wet once again, seeding delays will become worrisome. May 21 is the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance deadline for seeding chickpeas and for seeding camelina in the brown soil zone. In most years, early seeded crops end up with superior yields. Seeding this spring will become general later than average. When outfits do start rolling, producers will be pushing hard and that will put strains on all the input suppliers – everything from seed and innoculant to farm equipment mechanics. Hopefully, everyone associated with crop agriculture is well rested, because there are busy times ahead. I’m Kevin Hursh.