Manitoba Agriculture’s weekly crop report, released earlier this week, indicates planting is now 30 percent complete across the province, up from four percent completed last week and slightly ahead of the five-year average of 29 percent.
Dennis Lange, a pulse and soybean specialist with Manitoba Agriculture and editor of the provincial crop report, says most areas did receive rainfall through the past week a d that really has improved soil moisture conditions.
Most reports coming from most areas is that soil conditions for planting are almost ideal. Growers are able to get into moisture and there’s also some crop emerging on some of that early stuff that was planted before that rain shutdown.
The spring wheat and barley is sitting at about 58 percent complete across the province and the central region is most advanced at about 80 percent complete. Grain corn is about 60 percent complete across the province as well.
Growers like to get that corn in nice and early. When you start looking at things like oilseeds, canola is a bit further behind. We’re about six percent complete right now but most growers really haven’t gotten started there.
They have been focusing on other crops that are more sensitive to getting into the ground. With canola they like to get it in a little bit later and have a quicker emergence, possibly avoid some flea beetle issues if they come up quicker.
Sunflower planting on the oilseed side is sitting at about 13 percent complete across the province so they’re going in there as well.
One of the early crops, when it comes to some of the pulses, is field peas and we’re sitting at 72 percent complete across the province right now. And, soybeans are coming in as well and we’re seeing about 15 percent complete with the central region sitting at 30 percent.
What we’re seeing is that growers are taking advantage of the food soil conditions and, if a field is ready to plant, they go and start planting. Soybeans like it warmer and soil temperatures are warming up a bit now so that’s why soybeans are going in. By next week we’ll see what happens with the forecast as to how much that will change over the next week or so.
~ Dennis Lange, Manitoba Agriculture
Lange says, if the sun comes out, growers will be back in the fields and getting the rest of the crop in. He says if we get some warmer weather and some wind, planting will be finished before you know it.
