Farmscape for May 26, 2011   (Episode 3586)

The Canadian Wheat Board reports improved weather conditions over the past couple of weeks have allowed prairie farmers to make significant planting progress but seeding remains about one week behind last year and about 10 days behind normal.

The late cool spring, abundant moisture and flooding significantly delayed the start of spring planting this year.

Canadian Wheat Board weather and crop analyst Stuart McMillan says crops planted from here on will be subject to some level of yield decline with peas, oats and red spring wheat showing some of the more significant declines at this point.

Clip-Stuart McMillan-Canadian Wheat Board:
Right now seeding has reached 53 percent across the Canadian prairies.

This was following some substantial delays.

Now 53 percent is still delayed from normal.

Normally we would be at about three quarters complete by this point but the dry weather that the majority of the northern and western growing regions received, strong winds, warm temperatures all allowed the saturated soils to dry down and farmers to make significant headway.

The areas that have been running most ahead would be the northern growing regions and the western growing regions.

The majority of Alberta has received the weather they need to make substantial improvements to their seeding progress.

As well western Saskatchewan has moved ahead in quite good order.

As we get into southern Saskatchewan from the southwest, south-central and southeastern areas, they are all showing significant delays.

Planting progress is quite delayed throughout those regions.

That extends all the way through western Manitoba into about south-central Manitoba.

McMillan says, when one looks at the long term yield trends, yields do tend to drop and quality does become compromised as seeding is delayed and we have more crop that's susceptible to late season frost.

He notes, since about mid-winter, the expectation was that we would see three to five million acres remaining unseeded and, while that may have come back slightly, we would still anticipate three to four million acres remaining unseeded.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council