Heavy rains creating challenging planting conditions for Manitoba farmers

May 19, 2022

Heavy rains have led to very challenging planting conditions for Manitoba farmers.

Manitoba Agriculture’s Dane Froese says spring seeding is way behind normal.

“We had rain showers Thursday evening into Friday last week, bringing substantial amounts of rain ranging from 30-70mm in many cases washing out gravel roads, back roads in the Parkland area.” Froese said.

But Froese says some crops are in the ground, mostly in the Roblin and Swan River Valley area. Less than 5 percent of spring wheat and 5 percent of peas have been planted in northwestern Manitoba.

Seeding progress in Manitoba sits at about 4 percent completion, well behind the 5-year average of 50 percent for this time of year.

Froese notes flood alerts have been declared in communities along the Little Saskatchewan River.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.