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Spring seeding activity ground to a halt this week with the rain, but seeding is on par with the five-year average.
Pulse and Soybean Specialist Dennis Lange puts together the weekly crop report and says seeding is now two per cent complete across the province.
The most advanced area is in the central region, where about 10 per cent of the crop, mainly cereals and some peas are now in.
He notes the rain has been widespread, which is good to see as farmers will have a good base to work with once they’re back in the field.
The recent Statistics Canada report puts projected wheat acres in Manitoba at about 3.1 million, up from last year's 2.7 million acres.
Lange says he was surprised by the Canola numbers, putting this year's projected acreage at 3.2 million acres, as compared to last year’s 2.9 million acres.
“That one did surprise me initially when I heard the number, but because there's a lot of fertilizer being put down. Last fall, canola yields were phenomenal.”
He says when it comes to soybeans, his initial thought was that we'd see higher acreage this year, but Stats Can is projecting about 1.48 million, which is very similar to what we had last year at that 1.4 million.
When it comes to the winter cereal crop, Lange says its looking pretty good, with the winter survival rates ranging anywhere in that 80 to 90 per cent range.
"We've been hearing some good reports with some winter kill, but not anything significant at this point. Most of the fertilizer has gone down already for this year. For growers that are going to be keeping those fields, they should be all right, considering we didn't have a super cold winter.”
Growers are evaluating the winter cereal crops, and where they have low spots that are fairly sparse, will be deciding whether or not they're going to keep that crop moving forward.
To view the Manitoba Crop Report for April 30, 2024 click here.
To hear Glenda-Lee's conversation with Dennis Lange click on the link below.