Farmscape for June 1, 2018

Saskatchewan Agriculture reports rain over the past week across most of the province has been welcomed but more will be needed through the summer to keep the crops growing.
Saskatchewan Agriculture's weekly crop report, released yesterday, indicates spring planting is well ahead of the five year average.
Crops Extension Specialist Shannon Friesen says 91 percent of the crop has now been planted and most farmers expect to wrap up in the next week or so.

Clip-Shannon Friesen-Saskatchewan Agriculture:
Crop development is a little bit behind where we typically would expect to be right now and most of that is due to the dry conditions that we've had.
We have gotten some rain showers over the last week.
It's been very localized to some areas and certainly it hasn't been a general rain but for the most part most areas of the province have received something over the last week.
Rainfall ranged from very small amounts to three inches in the Humboldt area.
We did have some rainfall in the last couple of days that also brought some hail to many parts of the south.
Anywhere from a quarter inch to even two or three inches so that was very much welcomed.
Topsoil moisture conditions do remain quite dry.
Now that some moisture has been received and more is in the forecast, once the heat returns, we do expect a lot of those crops to really jump.
For the most part they are anywhere from poor to good in condition, all depending on where you are and if you were lucky enough to get moisture or not.
Emergence has been very patchy, it's been uneven.
Some producers have been starting in crop spraying operations while others are holding off for a little bit till the crop is advanced.
We've had a bit of crop damage as well, again from that lack of moisture as well as from the strong winds.
We've also heard many reports of producers actually starting to spray for flea beetles and cutworms.

Friesen says even though farmers have had some moisture, they are still in need of significant rainfall throughout the summer in order to replenish the topsoil and keep those crops growing throughout the season.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork