Saskatchewan Seeding Crawls Forward

REGINA - Jun 4/10 - SNS -- Seeding of this year's crops is crawling forward in Saskatchewan because of the wet conditions across much of western Canada.

In its latest weekly vrtop report, Saskatchewan Ahriculture said only 59% of all crops intended to be grown in ther province have been planted, down from 95% at this time last year and well below the recent five-year average of 86% sown by the end of May.

"The majority of the province is dealing with very wet soil conditions, making seeding operations difficult at best," the provi9ncial agriculture department said. "Since the beginning of April, many areas in the province have received more than six inches of total precipitation, and some areas have received in excess of eight inches of precipitation."

Seeding is 78% complete in northwestern Saskatchewan, 66% complete in southwestern and west-central Saskatchewan, 65% complete in the southeast, 44% complete in the northeast and 42% complete in east-central Saskatchewan.

Topsoil moisture continues to increase, and the wet soil is creating problems in some parts of the province, particularly in the northeastern and eastcentral regions, where cropland topsoil moisture conditions are reported as 94 and 84% surplus, respectively. Provincially, cropland topsoil moisture is rated as 59% surplus and 41% adequate. Hay land and pasture top soil moisture is rated as 28% surplus, 71% adequate and 1% short.

Roughly 80% of spring cereals and oilseeds are behind normal in development. At this time, 77% of the pulse crops and 37% of the fall cereals are behind normal in development. The majority of the crops that have emerged are in fair to good condition.

Crop damage is mostly attributed to flooding and frost. Frost damage was reported in the southern, west-central and northwestern regions with temperatures in some areas reaching -3C.