Saskatchewan Agriculture reports, with spring seeding now complete, the majority of crops are in normal stages of development for this time of year. Saskatchewan Agriculture released its weekly crop report yesterday.
Mackenzie Hladun, a crop extension specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, says producers were excited to see rain showers move through the province this week following the completion of seeding.
Quote-Mackenzie Hladun-Saskatchewan Agriculture:
This past week we did have some rain throughout the province.It ranged from about half a millimeter in Consul to 65 millimeters in Ituna and, overall, the rain received really helped replenish topsoil moisture levels and right now we do have really great growing conditions this summer and this spring going into the further growing season.
There's a little bit better soil moisture this year compared to last year.This year our topsoil moisture for cropland is four percent surplus, 69 percent adequate, 24 percent short and four percent is very short.The crops in Saskatchewan now are all at normal stages of development for this time of year.
Fall cereals are just ever so slightly ahead of development for this time of year with 31 percent being rated as ahead and oilseeds are just very slightly behind in development with 16 percent being rated as behind for this time of year.This is mostly due to dry conditions the west having induced some environmental stress in crops which caused increased development delay.
Alternatively, the east side of the province received some excess moisture this spring which caused some localized flooding and delayed development.
For our hay and pasture land it's a very similar pattern.
Three percent is surplus topsoil moisture, 57 percent is adequate, 33 percent short and seven percent is very short.We're getting comments from across the province that our pastures are in really nice condition and they're nice and green.This is in contrast to last year where they weren't in such nice condition as compared to this year.
Hladun says producers are currently busy scouting their fields for insects, weeds and disease and are spraying herbicides, fungicides and insecticides.
She says there are concerns right now with grasshopper and gopher pressures.
Source : Farmscape.ca