Parts of southern Manitoba hammered with rain are seeing some crop losses this year, says Dan Mazier, president of the Keystone Agricultural Producers, a member-funded farm policy organization.
Overall the growing season is pretty average in the province, but some fields near Selkirk, Portage la Prairie, Melita and south of Winnipeg have a great deal of standing water, said Mazier.
"It's accumulating now. It's not just last weekend's, it's the previous week's water [too]," he said.
"There's extremes in certain locations."
The wettest area, according to Mazier, is north of Winnipeg.
"I'm hearing lots that are hurt locally in small pockets, especially in that Selkirk area … they've been wet all spring," he said.
One farm could get a lot of rain — 40 millimetres or more — and a farm a few kilometres away will have a much more manageable amount — like 10 millimetres, he said. So the damage is spotty.
One saving grace for farmers dealing with a lot of rain is that most were able to plant on time this year, said Mazier. As of this week, most crops are in a later stage of development and are big enough to drink up excess water on the fields.
"The crops are at a really good stage to absorb it," said Mazier.
It's also early enough in the summer that a few hot days could save parts of the worst-hit fields. Some areas may be simply too wet to produce any crops of value but other, higher parts of the same land could make up for losses if Manitoba gets a few sunny days, he said.
Source : CBC