Moisture arrives in Sask. as seeding reaches 35% complete

Hot and dry weather prior to this week allowed Saskatchewan farmers to make great progress on seeding.

The latest weekly crop report shows 35 per cent of the provincial crop is now in the ground.

“That is significantly up from the five-year average of only 10 per cent,” Shannon Frieson with Saskatchewan Agriculture told The Brent Loucks Show Friday.

The most rapid progress is in the southwest, where 58 per cent is seeded, followed by the southeast with 51 per cent done.

The east central region is showing the slowest progress, with 17 per cent complete.

Frieson said the region received more snowfall, and subsequent wet conditions, than others.

“Even though they have had warm weather, a lot of those fields have been wet and equipment hasn’t been able to go in; but they’re certainly well ahead of where they would normally be,” she said.

Despite delaying seeding, the rain this week will be welcomed by a lot of farmers.

While cropland top soil moisture is rated as adequate for about 75 per cent, about one quarter report top soil moisture as short or very short prior to the rain.

Those that got rain will see their soil moisture concerns alleviated for now; however, the crop report also notes many areas did not receive significant precipitation early this week.  

Frieson said southeast and northwest areas saw less rain than the rest of the province, but is hopeful things will pick up.

“I do expect, once the sun does come out and the warmth returns, that we could easily be seeding very quickly again,” she said.

While the moisture may have changed seeding intentions for some, Frieson said this year the popular choices are lentils, pea fields and mustard.

Frieson added she wouldn’t be surprised if the province had 40 per cent of crops seeded by the end of next week.