General Increase in Pulse Area in Saskatchewan

VANCOUVER - Apr 15/10 - SNS -- There is a general interest in boosting specialty crop and canola area in Saskatchewan this year, according to the first crop report of the season issued by Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food.

There are some reports of farmers in southern crop districts starting to plant this year's crops, but the majority are good two weeks away from starting to seed this year's crop in most areas of the province.

With cropping decisions firmed up, they are telling crop reporters they plan to reduce the land sown to durum, oats, barley and flax; while increasing the numbers of acres planted to lentils, canola, canaryseed, mustard and chickpeas.

The degree of optimism with which growers are approaching this year's crop was also given a major boost by significant rainfall events during the past week.

"The rain that fell this week could not have come at a better time for many Saskatchewan farmers," according to Saskatchewan Agriculture's weekly Crop Report. "The moisture is particularly welcome in the western half of the province, which has been very dry for the past 2 years. The moisture situation on the east side of the province is sufficient to get the crop up and off to a good start. Some areas received rain on Monday, but the majority of it fell on Tuesday and Wednesday."

Due to the slow snow melt, the southwest and west central areas of the province are reporting little runoff. Some areas in the central and northern regions are indicating that dugouts have been filled. The severe wind last Friday, which reached 130 km per hour in places, damaged roofs, corrals, quonsets, bins and trees, and caused some soildrift. Some areas had snow along with the extreme wind, causing blizzard-like conditions.