Snow was nice, but farmers need more moisture yet

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/04/2021 (1996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Farmers were among the few of us doing a happy dance while watching all that snow fall earlier this week. It couldn’t have come at a better time.

Well, maybe not the snow so much as the moisture that will provide a badly needed boost to topsoil moisture conditions as farmers head for the fields.

A few producers were taking the plunge earlier this month to seed cereals early, taking advantage of the dry, albeit cool soils and gambling that the skies would deliver.

As dramatic as it was, did the April snowstorm quash the sector’s worry about whether there will be enough moisture to see this year’s crop through?

In a word, no, says Bruce Burnett, director of weather and crop information for Glacier FarmMedia.

“This was the first hurdle they had to get over,” Burnett said. “This was really, really nicely timed.”

While there might be enough to get seeds started, subsoil moisture levels, which are important for carrying the crop through the gaps in rainfall, remain at critically low levels across the Prairies. The winter just past was among the five driest on record for the region.

Farmers will need timely rains throughout the season to carry the crops through, starting around canola planting time in early to mid-May.

“For getting the crop established, it’s key to have moisture in the top three inches,” he said. “The subsoil layers are the bank.”

Farmers are quick to point out that they haven’t lost a crop yet in April. But it’s always a worry when you’re investing hundreds of thousands of dollars with no control over one of the key determinants of yield.

Market prices are a great talking point but they’re moot if the farmer doesn’t have much to sell.

So drought understandably ranked high in an early April Stratus Research poll of farmers’ top-of-mind concerns this spring.

More than half of Manitoba and Saskatchewan farmers said they were “very concerned” about dry conditions with almost all respondents saying the soil on their farms was drier than normal. That’s consistent with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada drought monitor maps depicting moderate to extreme drought across the eastern Prairies. See for yourself at: wfp.to/GHn

More than 80 per cent of farmers responding to the poll said they planned to seed earlier than usual to take advantage of the available moisture, while only six per cent said they’d be holding back on seeding until conditions improved. Generally speaking, rain or no rain, earlier planting is associated with higher yields.

Nearly 69 per cent indicated they were feeling more cautious about forward pricing their crop, an indicator of the potential for a smaller harvest, but also uncertainty over where new crop prices are headed.

As well, 39 per cent said they were considering cutting back on their spending on inputs such as fertilizer or herbicides.

Twenty-nine per cent said they are considering shifting acres from one crop to another and 15.5 per cent they are reconsidering which crops to grow.

Stratus analyst Kent Fraser said while those percentages don’t seem high, if all those farmers make changes to their cropping mixes, it could affect a lot of acres.

The recent injection of moisture, with more in the forecast, could do a lot to settle those fears around planting and the cropping mix because it’s an indicator that more rain could be in the forecast.

As big a concern drought was for Prairie farmers responding to the poll, it wasn’t as big a worry as the rising cost of the carbon tax. Nearly 70 per cent of farmers said they are worried about how it might impact their farm. The rising cost of inputs came in second followed by their concern over drought. Prices and trade disruptions ranked further down the list.

So while the snowstorm didn’t resolve all their moisture and other worries, it has contributed to a sense of buoyancy as farmers position themselves for that annual spring rush. Prices have remained strong and farm cash receipts for 2020 are poised to hit a new record.

All things considered, they’re off to a good start.

Laura Rance is vice-president of Content for Glacier FarmMedia. She can be reached at lrance@farmmedia.com