Farmers plant record amount of canola

While development of Saskatchewan’s crops stayed on schedule this week, according to the provincial crop report released Thursday, Statistics Canada revealed what crops farmers seeded this spring.

Rain amounts varied across Saskatchewan last week, ranging from small amounts to 57 millimetres in the Nipawin area.

“(The area east of Estevan is) dealing with a lot of excess moisture. But of course the more west you go, the drier it is as well,” said Shannon Friesen, acting crop management specialist with the Ministry of Agriculture in Moose Jaw.

Also, frost hit some areas in the southern part of the province, with producers still assessing damage.

“We don’t typically see frost this late in the season. Although we did hear some reports of some damage to some of the pulse crops, especially those that were flowering,” Friesen said. “It’s too late to reseed but we have heard that some of those crops have actually been growing through the damage.”

About 87 per cent of fall cereals, 62 per cent of spring cereals, 55 per cent of oilseed crops, and 67 per cent of pulses are on track or ahead of development for this time of year.

Haying is underway across the province. Four per cent of the provincial hay crop is cut and two per cent is baled. Haying is most advanced in the southwest.

The province’s farmers planted record acres of canola, while crops such as lentils have fallen in acres this year. The data comes from a Statistics Canada survey of 6,802 Saskatchewan farmers conducted between May 26 to June 12. Seeding was about 88.9 per cent completed at the time of the survey.