By paNOW

Farmers likely to push back spring seeding date due to slow melt

Apr 11, 2013 | 7:08 AM

Spring seeding could be delayed for farmers in Saskatchewan, another effect the abundance of snow this winter is having.

Jamie Hodson grows wheat, pulse crops and oilseeds on a farm near Grand Coulee.

“As far back as I can remember I haven’t seen a winter drag on like this. Nothing of this significance that most of us can recall and so I’m sure going forward looking into spring it’s going to cause some issues,” he said.

Hodson tries not to stress out about what he can’t control, but admits he’d be lying if it didn’t cross his mind. He’s hesitant of putting a date on when he might be able to seed, but has a pretty good idea of when he won’t be able to.

“It’s fairly obvious it’s going to be no earlier than the 10th of May in my mind,” he said.
That means some might have to alter their game plan.

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“Guys are going to be planning on changing rotations to grow crops that require less growing days.”

Hodson said right now it’s about being as organized as possible; making sure their fertilizer, seed and equipment is ready. Some equipment is actually hard to access because of the snow he said.

Ministry of Agriculture crop specialist Grant McLean said what’s happening isn’t common, but it’s not at a crisis level.

“I don’t think it’s dire. I think it’s certainly unusual to have this amount of snow.”

He said the majority of seeding in the province is done in May anyway. The lucky ones may be able to seed by late April.

“There may be some individuals in the extreme southwest that may be able to get on the land,” McLean said. “It’s not unusual for producers in the northeast to be in to the latter part of May before they can get into the fields.”

The big question mark remains the weather and what will happen in the next few weeks. That’s not just for snow, but for if we see any major spring rains too McLean added. He said there are still plenty of opportunities for producers to be optimistic.

That holds true for Hodson. As a farmer he knows the weather is unpredictable.

“We could be sitting here on May 15 and the seeding be going just perfectly fine and there’s no rain in the forecast and we got good field conditions at that point.”

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