Moisture conditions are great for seeding, and Creelman-area farmer Marcel Van Staveren began this spring鈥檚 seeding on Tuesday.
Some farmers reported starting on their planting already, but Van Staveren and his two brothers waited until Tuesday to get their seeders out into the fields, in spite of the wet snow received over the weekend.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 get a lot, about two inches of snow or five millimetres of actual water,鈥� said Van Staveren on Monday afternoon.
In terms of soil moisture, he said their fields are way ahead of last year when they began seeding with 48 inches of dry soil. This year they have moisture in the top two feet of soil, which is 鈥渁 reasonable amount of moisture鈥�.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not out of the woods for moisture, as we鈥檒l need more in the spring, but year over year, I鈥檓 quite happy to be going in this,鈥� he added, noting that most dugouts in the Fillmore-Creelman area are full, which will be good for the area鈥檚 livestock producers.
The biggest concern for the producer are the grain markets, in particular for canola and pulse crops like lentils and peas.
With China not buying Canadian canola, this will have a major effect on the canola market, but in Van Staveren鈥檚 mind, this won鈥檛 be enough to change his mind about seeding canola this spring.
Most farmers who normally seed canola will still be planting the crop, 鈥渂ecause farmers by nature are eternal optimists,鈥� and will be hoping for some resolution to come this year in their trade with China.
鈥淗opefully the trade barriers will be softened, and-or there will be new markets. I hoping there will be a change in the situation,鈥� said Van Staveren.
He has a concern that there aren鈥檛 any delegations to China being arranged yet to go and talk to their government about the trade issues, since that country buys about 40 per cent of the canola produced here.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a dollar a bushel less of potential income,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t almost makes canola a break-even proposition. Historically, 50 per cent of most grain farm profits come from canola.鈥�
He pointed out that one of the major users of canola meal in China are hog producers, who are being impacted by the African swine flu currently, so this has softened demand somewhat for canola meal.
The other major headache affecting markets are the tariffs imposed by India for the second year on lentils, peas and chickpeas.
鈥淯sually at this time of year, our big concern is getting a good start to our crops,鈥� said Van Staveren.
He feels that acres seeded to canola will be decreased in some areas in Western Canada, but for the most part in southern Saskatchewan, canola acres will remain close to the same number.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 push the rotation of crops as heavily as they do in the Edmonton area or at Prince Albert. Canola acres will be down slightly, but not in southern Saskatchewan, in my opinion,鈥� he said.
