While Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Agriculture is reporting seeding progress across southeastern Saskatchewan at 80 per cent, on par with the five-year average, farmers in the Weyburn area are still facing significant delays and difficult field conditions after recent heavy rainfall.
Dale Paslawski, a farmer northeast of Weyburn, said the ground remains saturated after receiving between three and a half to four inches of rain in recent weeks, leaving many producers scrambling to finish.
“We sat for quite a few days there; 10 or 11 days,” Paslawski said. “We got going again about three days ago, and it’s awfully wet. Tractors are spinning down the field… There’s still a fair amount of acres to be seeded in the area, especially northeast of Weyburn, from Talmage up to Osage and Fillmore.”
Paslawski estimates some producers in the region may still need another week to 10 days to finish their seeding operations.
The excess moisture, while welcomed earlier in the season after a dry fall and winter, is now presenting new complications.
“We’re saturated,” he said. “Some of that rain actually sat on top of the seeded acres, and now that it’s drying and warming up, we’re getting some crusting issues. We’re seeing emergence problems in some of the durum, and a neighbour’s barley is crusted in already. There’s concern about the canola as well.”
The uneven rainfall has created a patchwork of conditions throughout the fields. Paslawski noted the heat and sunshine over the weekend has been helpful, both for drying wet fields and pushing along early crop growth.
“It gives you a good feeling,” he said. “You can actually see the wet spots in the field. That’s why I’m seeding today instead of my son—he’s a little uneasy with the land right now. I can see the shine where it’s still wet, so I’m going around a lot of potholes.”
The calendar is becoming a concern for some producers. With June fast approaching, Paslawski said farmers are starting to consider switching to shorter-season crops like oats, barley, or flax in order to beat the risk of a September frost.
And while more rain is in the forecast for early next week, he said the reaction is mixed.
“Right now I really don’t need too much rain,” Paslawski said. “But we hate to send it away because as soon as the heat hits, you start to get worried.”
Once the last of the seed is in the ground, however, producers will be looking to the skies for support again.
“As we get into the end of June and into July, we’re actually praying for rain on a weekly basis,” he said. “We don’t want to push rain away. It’s kind of a bad omen to say no to rain.”