Michael Brown is excited to be back into the field and begin seeding, even though the wet field conditions are going to pose a challenge this year.
Brown has nearly 5,000 acres of land nine kilometres south of Carlyle. He’ll seed canola, wheat, durum, peas, lentils and soybeans this year, which are the traditional crops for the operation.
“It’s going well so far,” he told Agri News. “We’re picking away at our dry ground, but we’re starting to get into our wet ground. We’re probably going to get the harrows and try to dry the ground.”
Dry areas where he has been able to seed are largely southeast of Carlyle. Now that he’s started seeding straight south of the town, the land is getting wetter – a remnant of the moisture that many producers in the southeast had to contend with last fall.
“Wherever we got more rain last fall, it seems to be wetter in those areas right now,” said Brown.
As of Thursday afternoon, he had seeded about 1,200 acres, so he was roughly a quarter of the way finished. His progress so far has been normal for this time of year.
He hopes the conditions will remain dry until seeding is finished. His equipment has been co-operative.
“We haven’t had any major breakdowns yet, just typical little things like hoses and everything, but every farm has those issues.”
Other farmers he has talked to have encountered similar issues with moisture in the ground. Some have had their equipment get stuck.
Seeding for Brown started on May 1, and he decided it was the best time to get started.
“I was waiting for temperatures to warm up a bit, but I figured with the thermometer in the ground, it seemed to be decent there, and the ground I had started on, it was dry enough. I knew if I didn’t have that land where it was, I wouldn’t have started until now.”
Brown was one of the fortunate producers in the southeast who was able to finish harvest last year, but he has neighbours and other friends who still have crop remaining from last year.
They’ll begin seeding this year even though they haven’t finished last year’s harvest. Due to the wet ground, they might not finish last year’s harvest until this year’s seeding is complete.
Brown is hopeful for a good year this year. While the moisture is a challenge, he’s glad to have moisture in the ground, a luxury he didn’t have in some recent years, when drought conditions have been a problem for producers.
