By Colin Budd
Whenever there is talk of projections for the upcoming crop year, it could be possible that too much emphasis gets put on the conditions right this second.
If you went with that, there wouldn’t be a whole lot of enthusiasm for even firing up the tractor. But living on the farm, is akin to being what a Riders’ fan used to be. This year is our year.
“Producers are always optimistic in the spring,” said Grant McLean, a cropping management specialist at the Saskatchewan Agriculture Knowledge Centre.
The outlook now isn’t the best. Like most of the western parts of the province, the Lloydminster area is dealing with a lack of moisture after a dry summer coupled with a small amount of snowfall during the winter.
“I think in the short term there is some concern about the drier conditions we entered the winter with last fall and the low snowfall amounts may hinder the amount of water recharge both for livestock and for re-cropping opportunities for the coming season,” said McLean.
But.
“Often times we get some late March or early April snowstorms and rainstorms that may change that situation considerably.”
The eastern part of the province, which traditionally has higher snowfall amounts, is in better shape right now and the south is looking decent as well after a couple of real harsh winter storms left it with good snow cover.
“They could provide some pretty significant recharge to the water storage facilities people depend on like dugouts, dams that sort of thing,” said McLean.
That will be a factor in what farmers are deciding to put into the ground in the next month or so along with prices – which aren’t looking the greatest right now, with lower forecasts than a year ago, especially for cereals.
“Which does tend to complicate or make the cropping decisions for producers a little more complex than they would prefer. But that’s always a challenge I think most producers face every year,” said McLean, adding that many will just continue on with their normal rotation with maybe the odd change. “There are always individuals looking for the hot crop and that varies from year to year.”
Canola is once again expected to be a popular choice, although not as much as year ago.
“I think the big one that everyone is always toting as the Cinderella crop for the last year has been red lentils, which is not adaptable in all parts of the province,” said McLean.