By paNOW

Northeast producers feeling the impacts from heavy rain

Jun 20, 2013 | 1:31 PM

Farmers in the northeast did not embrace the rains last week.

Rain is usually welcomed for newly seeded crops however Grant McLean, crop specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture said some areas received too much of it and are dealing with flooding.

Rain amounts across the province varied from a few inches to up to four inches in parts of the north, the province reported Thursday.

“That was probably the biggest handicap,” he said.

“Top soil moisture in the region is indicating nearly 60 per cent of [farmers] are in surplus, so, some pretty wet conditions.”

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That has prevented some farmers from starting important field work such as weed control. McLean said in some fields, weeds and crops are advancing at the same time.

But not everyone is letting the wet conditions stop them. McLean said some producers are finding ways around it.

“I even talked to one producer, he indicated that some of his neighbours were using helicopters to get their weed control operations because the fields were too wet to drive on even with any of the conventional farm equipment.”

The majority of crops in the province are at the normal stage of development with their condition rated fair to excellent. McLean, however said they will be watching the impact from the recent rains, especially to those crops exposed to standing water for prolonged periods.

“If it’s on those developed crops for three or four days certainly it will handicap the development of those crops.”

With the first official day of summer arriving Friday, McLean said producers will be looking for a string of warm, dry weather so they can take advantage of the moisture.

The weekly crop report released on Thursday showed seeding was 98 per cent completed across the province, with the southeast the furthest behind at 94 per cent.

All other crop regions, including the northeast, have 99 per cent of acres seeded. The provincial average for this time of year is normally 89 per cent.

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