(Resource News International) — Lack of moisture in the central regions of the Prairies is hindering optimism for spring seeding among producers, according to a number of market participants.
“There is a large contingent of producers, primarily from the central south part of the Prairies, that are clearly looking at the driest soil moisture conditions they have had in years,” said Ron Frost, manager of AgProfit Driver for the Pike Management Group of Calgary. “There is not enough moisture in those areas to even start a crop.”
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Some very timely late March or early April precipitation will be required as a result, Frost said.
There were producers in the central part of Alberta and west-central regions of Saskatchewan who have enough moisture for germination, he noted, but after that, timely precipitation will be required in order to maintain the crop.
Frost said the dryness factor among producers has been amplified by the high prices for the various commodities seen over the past couple of months.
“I think everyone is anxious to get production going and to have a good crop,” Frost said. “Normally, producers who would not be as concerned at this time of year, are expressing fears over dryness because they feel that there is such a great need to get ahead this year and they have been hard at preparing.”
Bruce Burnett, director of the Canadian Wheat Board’s weather and crop surveillance department, said the Palliser Triangle — an area that encompasses most of southern Saskatchewan, parts of west-central Saskatchewan, parts of central Saskatchewan and parts of Alberta south of Red Deer — had very little moisture to work with heading into the freeze-up in the fall.
“Any area to the south of the No. 1 Highway in Saskatchewan definitely had very poor soil moisture heading into the winter period,” Burnett said. “There was also very little in the way of precipitation during the winter, which resulted in almost no spring runoff.”
Any spring run-off was easily absorbed in the southern regions of Alberta, Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba, Burnett said.
“There are some areas in south-central Saskatchewan, ranging from west of Weyburn to east of Swift Current, where there will need to be spring rains before producers can be assured of enough moisture for crop germination,” he said.
Moisture levels in Alberta were seen as being below average in general, said Mark Cutts, a crop specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development’s Ag-Info Centre at Stettler.
From an overall standpoint, he said, snow cover during the winter was not as substantial as during normal years.
The area of concern in Alberta extended from the south and as far north as Edmonton, Cutts said.
“As far as moisture heading into spring seeding, a general statement would be that there is probably just enough for germination, but timely rains after the crop is planted will be required,” he said.
Wet in north
While the southern regions of the Canadian grain belt were seen as being on the dry side, the more northern areas of Alberta and Saskatchewan were seen as once again being overly wet.
“There is too much moisture, especially in the northeastern and northwestern regions of Saskatchewan,” Burnett said.
There was extremely good moisture ahead of the fall freeze-up in northern Alberta and those areas of Saskatchewan. That, combined with a good snowpack, will likely mean producers in those areas will again be dealing with excess moisture come seeding time.
“Those regions will not need rain in the spring, and in fact, producers would probably see any moisture as detrimental until after the crops are seeded,” Burnett said.
Manitoba
Moisture conditions in the province of Manitoba were seen as being a bit drier than normal, but overall not all that bad, said Andy Nadler, a crop meteorologist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives at Carman.
A concern among producers is that precipitation ahead of the fall freeze-up was lower than normal across most regions of the province, which in turn did not recharge subsoil moisture levels, he said.
“The western regions of Manitoba, extending north of Brandon (are) actually quite dry,” Nadler said.
Producers certainly want the fields to dry out quickly in order to be able to get spring fieldwork underway as soon as possible, he said. However, they also want enough moisture for the crop to get a good germination and to sustain it a bit afterward as well.
Of the three Prairie provinces, Burnett said, Manitoba probably had the best moisture situation heading into spring seeding.
