Individual progress depends on the region, one producer said
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Alberta farmers are almost at the midway point of the 2019 seeding season.
Growers have planted almost 43 per cent of the province’s spring crops, Alberta Agriculture’s crop report said on May 14. That figure is up significantly from about 8 per cent last year.
On an individual crop basis, spring wheat is the furthest along.
Growers have planted more than 52 per cent of spring wheat, Alberta’s ag ministry reported.
Spring wheat is looking good early on but much of the progress is dependent on location, said Dan Doll, who grows wheat and canola in Fairview, Alta.
“The wheat looks good and is coming up fairly even,” he told Farms.com. “The canola has been in for about a week so it’s just coming through. I’m done seeding and I would guess that, in my area, we’re about 80 to 90 per cent done seeding. But if you go 20 miles (32 km) away, (some farmers) might only be 50 per cent done because they didn’t receive enough spring moisture.”
Other growers, however, are more concerned about the wind than the amount of rain that has fallen in their areas.
Strong winds are drying out the good field conditions that came early in the seeding season, said Nick Jonk, who produces oats, peas and canola in Westlock, Alta.
“As a general rule, things are pretty good but we’ve been having some tremendous east-to-west winds that have been drying things out,” he told Farms.com. “We need the wind to stop and a good spring rain to get the canola going.”
Jonk’s peas and oats have emerged and are looking good, he said.