Canola producer hoping for rain to save the crop

WINNIPEG• The drought that’s parching parts of Canada’s agricultural heartland has canola growers worried that their crops may not have enough water to grow.

Topsoil moisture conditions are declining in parts of the prairies just as farmers are trying to plant canola, an oilseed that’s typically sown at more shallow depths than other crops like wheat.

Canada is the world’s largest grower of canola, and while farmers can seed in dry conditions, they’ll still need moisture for the crops to grow, said Chuck Penner, the owner of LeftField Commodity Research in Winnipeg.

Huge swaths of Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan have received less than 40 per cent average rainfall since April 1, according to the nation’s agriculture ministry. While some southern areas may receive as much as 1.5 inches (3.8 centimetres) in the next two weeks, precipitation is expected to return to below-normal levels after that, said Joel Widenor, a meteorologist with Commodity Weather Group in Bethesda, Maryland.

“A lot of canola was put into the ground dry and basically until it gets moisture it doesn’t germinate,” Penner said by phone.

Canadian canola farmers were already poised to seed fewer acres in 2018 amid lingering concerns about dryness. Plantings will fall 7 per cent to 21.4 million acres, the smallest area in two years, Statistics Canada says.