Farmers across Saskatchewan already have about two-thirds of their crop in the ground, according to the province's latest crop report.
That's up from the five-year average of 24 per cent, and the 10-year average of 40 per cent. Last year only 22 per cent was seeded at this time.
Lee Stanley farms about 2,400 acres in the far southeast corner of the province near Gainsborough. He says they're making good progress, but things have slowed down after they received about an inch and a half of rain in the last week. That's on top of two and a half inches that fell May 4.
Unfortunately, extra moisture is nothing new to the area. In 2011, flooding swept through the area. Just last year, much of the southeast was under water again.
"2011 was pretty well a lost cause for everyone in this area," Stanley explained, adding while there was a brief period of relief in 2012, wet conditions have persisted ever since.
"We're about, probably 25 to 30 per cent not seeded in the last two years," he said.
But things could be turning around for farmers in the southeast, and right across the province. Stanley expects to get about 90 per cent of his land seeded this year, and Environment Canada is predicting a hot, dry summer for southern Saskatchewan.
"For this area that would be a godsend if we could get some warm temperatures and a lot less precipitation than we've been having," he said.
"Right now we have more subsoil moisture than we can deal with, the ground is just saturated. We could probably grow a crop without a heck of a lot of precipitation this year."
Source : ckom