Just before we got that large amount of rain at the end of last week, many farmers around the Drumheller area wrapped up seeding for this year.
Timing for those that finished couldn't have been better. According to the Alberta Crop Report put out by the Province of Alberta, nearly 62% of farmers in the province were finished seeding as of May 19. In the Central region which goes from Rimbey across to Consort, over 71% of farmers had seeding complete. That was an increase of 32% from the week before. Nearly 80% of spring wheat, 65% of barley and canola, 87% of dry peas, 85% of chickpeas and 79% of lentils are reported as seeded.
There were some farmers in the central zone that were unable to get last year's crop off until this spring. As of last week, only 1.9% of spring wheat from last year was yet to be harvested.
Before the rains we received last week, the soil moisture was rated as good for just under 60% of farmers in our region. With the rain we received, things will have improved substantially.
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