Producers are entering the home stretch for seeding operations around West Central. The Ministry of Agriculture’s May 13–19 crop report shows seeding in the region is now over 80 per cent complete, thanks largely to dry conditions that have allowed farmers to stay in the field.
West-central Saskatchewan saw the biggest jump in progress this past week at 38 per cent, now tying the northwest region at 81 per cent, those regions second only to the southwest which leads the province at 89 per cent complete.
"This last week specifically, it just comes down to rainfall received." said crops extension specialist for the area Tyce Masich when asked about the trend.
"West Central got a little bit of rain depending on where you are, but there were a lot of areas that hardly got any rain at all. So that means there were no seeding delays, which would have led to the jump." he said, adding that some farmers worked hard to get seed in the ground while topsoil moisture levels remained decent.
While most areas only received trace amounts of rain, pockets of the region that did receive moisture were in the 10-20 mm range. It was enough to help out while still keeping machines at work said Masich.
"Would have slowed seeing progress, but even then, the rain delays would have been short. Maximum of a day or two I would say, but it really just depends on where you are and how much you got."
While it's nice to see seeding moving along locally, the massive jump did beg the question of how far ahead the western side of Saskatchewan really is. Masich was happy to share that progress isn't quite lagging down south, they have just need to get their equipment working.
"The province isn't behind by any means; it's actually quite far ahead of the five- and ten-year averages in terms of seeding progress. West-central just happens to be quite a bit ahead of the provincial average," said Masich as the east side of the province, especially to the south, have been dealing with considerable rain. "East-central and southeast parts of the province lagged behind the provincial average because they received a whole lot of rainfall this past week which kept them out of the fields for four or five days at a time."
The current statistics are a good example of how much farming operations rely on the weather. While local producers are happy to be nearly done seeding, many would have appreciated the extra shot of moisture, vice versa for farmers on the other side of the province with tons of work still ahead of them.
"I wouldn't call it jealous, but they would like more rain. I was talking with a guy around Outlook, and he got some rain, close to 1/2 inch, but he wanted more type of thing.
"For the most part producers in west-central, northwest, and northeast, it's been fairly dry in those areas, so they would like more rain, especially after seeding wraps up here. In terms of east-central and southeast, they want dry conditions the next ten days so they can wrap up seeding."
West Central will appreciate a few more days of sunshine to end May, before farmers wish on the rain starting in June.