Manitoba farmers trying to finish seeding on wet fields

Heavy rains have Manitoba farmers adjusting their seeding plans.

Even with the delays, seeded acreage increased over the past week to about 83 per cent complete compared to the five-year average of 88 per cent.

Anne Kirk, a cereal crops specialist with Manitoba Agriculture said to accommodate crop insurance seeding deadlines, farmers have been adjusting their orders of planting.

“Most areas of the province have exceeded 150 per cent of normal precipitation and all regions of the province have received 100 per cent of normal precipitation since May 1 so in general it is wet, good moisture conditions or too wet depending on where you are throughout the province,” she said.

The previous week, there was also a rain and snow event with farmers reporting standing water on land that was already too wet to access when the new rain event happened on the weekend.

In addition to dealing with the wet conditions, temperatures have been slightly below average, according to Kirk.

“It typically been cool so that growing degree accumulation is near or below normal for the majority of the province,” said Kirk. “In some cases, especially for pasture and forage growth, are looking to see more heat units because we do have a lot of moisture to get those crops growing.”

Kirk said there was some planting progress over the past week.

“Last week, we were looking at 64 per cent planted and now we’re estimating 83 per cent but we still have quite a few unseeded acres in some regions,” she added.

Kirk said in terms of planting order there are seeding deadlines coming up for soybeans, and corn.

“In some areas the soybean seeding deadline has passed as of May 30, so farmers had been adjusting their order of planting away from their typical order just to get some of those crops where the crop insurance deadline was approaching faster.”

Kirk expects a big push to get seeding completed within the next week and, as fields start to dry up, there may be replanting on fields that may have been under water for extended periods.