While the rains in late May and thus far in June have been a boon for many southeast producers, there are still some in need of some rain.
Troy Adams, whose family seeded about 12,000 acres this year on their land 18 kilometres west of the Energy City, is among those in need of rain. He says their land is pretty dry, and they could really use another blast of moisture.
“The showers have been kind of spotty here all spring, so we had a little bit of a reprieve, a couple of inches of rain right at the end of seeding, but we could sure use some more rain right now,” said Adams.
The last significant rain would have been early last week.
“We need some really timely rains, a really nice, two-day soaking rain would be just perfect,” said Adams. “Sub-soil moisture is pretty much depleted right here, so we could use some, the quicker the better.”
The strong winds experienced in the region this year have also caused problems for his farm.
“The wind has been terrible. It does dry things out, and it just sucks the moisture out of the ground,” said Adams. “It’s also been a real problem with spraying. We’re in the middle of spraying season right now, and it’s been awful tough with this wind every day.”
Adams said his family’s farm is in a pocket where farms are quite dry.
“I think most have received more moisture. I know around Lampman, and even to the other side of Torquay, they have had way more moisture than we have. We’re just missing some of the showers here,” Adams said.
In some years they will get the rain that others don’t receive, but so far this year, they haven’t had the moisture that others have had.
Adams said the farm was very dry entering spring seeding, which left them concerned about what kind of year they would have.
“We put most of the seed in dry dirt, and germination was kind of spotty and poor at best. So we did get some late rains that did help things out, and got some late germination, so it saved us for a little bit,” said Adams.
Canola, peas, spring wheat and durum were planted this year. The conditions influenced their decision on which crops to seed.
“It was so dry going into seeding that I changed some of my cropping plans, cut back on some of my heavy input crops such as soy beans, and some of those got deleted from our plan,” said Adams.
But the crops are looking good right now, he said, which is a little surprising.
And he’s optimistic that the rains they need will come, and it will be another good year for the farm.
