(File photo/farmnewsNOW Staff)

By Alice McFarlane

Saskatchewan Crop Report 2021

Northeast Sask farmers pleased conditions, progress with seeding

May 13, 2021 | 11:00 AM

MELFORT, Sask. — It was a productive week for Saskatchewan farmers.

The latest crop report from the Ministry of Agriculture has 38 per cent seeded which is up from nine per cent from last week. This is well ahead of the five-year average of 22 per cent.

The southwest region is leading the province, with 56 per cent of the crop seeded. Forty-four per cent of crops are seeded in the southeast, 35 per cent in the west-central, 34 per cent in the northwest, 24 per cent in the east-central.

The northeast region is at 22 per cent seeded. Terry Youzwa and his son, Zak, farm east of Nipawin and have about two-thirds of the crop in the ground.

Youzwa said they are growing canola, wheat, oats, canary seed, peas and some barley this year. They decided not to grow faba beans.

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“We started Apr. 30. We started late, quit early and took Sundays off with the cold nights,” Youzwa told farmnewsNOW. “This week we’re finding more hours in the day and going harder now that it’s warmed up.”

If all goes well Youzwa said they could be finished seeding before May long weekend which would be ahead of normal for his operation.

Youzwa said one concern he has with the early start is the colder temperatures meant less weed control.

“We weren’t able to do a lot of burnoff post seeding on wheat and barley and we may not even get any on the peas. So, I suppose we will have to deal with it in crop later and maybe with more than one application. That’s really the only issue,” he said.

Moisture conditions saw a slight drop across the province. While many areas are quite dry, Youzwa said it was nice to see it dry up.

“The water table is lower, and it needed to be lower so that’s a good thing,” Youzwa said. “We’re going through some low spots we haven’t been able to for a while. We’ve got good moisture right now. We can wait another week and those rains can come when we’re finished.”

Dry conditions are raising concerns about fires in both cropland and pastures. Several rural municipalities have issued fire bans.

Producers are reminded to be extremely careful when operating machinery and equipment that have the potential to spark or get very hot.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW