Canola farmers across Western Canada are scrambling to reseed fields damaged by frost. An early estimate suggests that 10 per cent of seeded fields are getting a do-over.
Ken Bartsch, director of marketing for the seed company BrettYoung, told that as much as one million acres of canola were damaged by frost.
According to industry information, Canadian farmers plant around 11 million acres of canola and most of that is in Western Canada.
Bartsch said the estimate of frost damage is preliminary and the company is still collecting data but he said the reseeding is the highest he has encountered in recent memory.
"Usually it's fairly limited and very isolated," Bartsch said. "But this is the widest-spread I've seen in the last five to six years."
In some cases farmers are replanting with a variety of canola that matures quickly. Some have chosen a different grain altogether.
"Some have switched out of the canola and gone to a cereal grain because of the timing issue," he said.
Source : CBC