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By Alice McFarlane

Saskatchewan 2022 Crop Report

Slow start to seeding in Saskatchewan

May 5, 2022 | 2:05 PM

MELFORT, Sask. – The first seeders hit the field in Saskatchewan last week, according to the Ministry of Agriculture’s crop report.

Crops Extension Specialist Matt Struthers said cool temperatures and early spring snowstorms have delayed seeding for many producers across the province. Currently, one per cent of the 2022 crop is now in the ground, well behind the five-year average of five per cent. Most of the activity is in the southern part of the province.

“The southwest is going full bore with their seeding,” Struthers told farmnewsNOW. “It sounds like they are on par with where they usually are every year so that’s good to see.”

Topsoil moisture for cropland is still less than ideal for proper seed germination and pasture growth. Cropland topsoil moisture is rated as five per cent surplus, 55 per cent adequate, 26 per cent short and 14 per cent very short.

Struthers said it was good to see a decent spring runoff for most areas which was especially good for livestock producers who have struggled with finding good quality water for their animals. Runoff was rated as five per cent above normal, 44 per cent average and 51 per cent below normal.

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“It’s very good to see a recharge of our dugouts, creeks and sloughs,” he said.

Going into the warm summer months, timely rains will be needed to keep water quality and quantity at acceptable levels.

Producers will need a good hay crop this year to replenish their feed supplies and ensure they have more than enough to feed their livestock next winter.

Struthers said pastures didn’t get the rain it needed in the fall for adequate regrowth before winter arrived, which has resulted in less than desirable pasture conditions to start the year.

“Pasture conditions took a real beating last year. There wasn’t a whole lot there growing and they were being grazed and through a tough winter,” he said. “Hopefully with a little bit of warmth and some rain those pastures can green up and grow quite quickly and we can get cattle moved onto those and take stress off livestock producers who are running low on feed.”

Pasture lands are rated as zero per cent excellent, 12 per cent good, 22 per cent fair, 37 per cent poor and 29 per cent very poor.

There have been reports of winterkill on winter wheat, fall rye and other fall seeded crops. The hardest-hit areas are in the southwest where snow cover was not adequate to protect the crop.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW