This seeding season so far has been the champion of stress in my short farming career.
I’ve been around the farm for about eight years, and by now, I know that most farmers are the kind of people that seem to suck stress in with mother’s milk. I won't talk for everyone, but about 98 per cent of farmers I've met were like that.
And that's understandable. Unlike most other industries, in farming your well-being is not only about your skills, knowledge and abilities, but also mainly depends on things that are much greater than you are. How not to stress about it?
In my first few years, I fell for that, on a regular basis losing my mind over things we had no control over. First of all, the weather, which in not a single summer has been perfect for farming, according to my brother-in-law. (Those of you who got married into farming rather than growing up on a farm may understand that frustration).
Markets are another thing that make farmers lose sleep. And that's on top of running big and complicated operations with ever-changing technologies, laws and regulations that are not just farms but serious businesses these days.
But after some time around the farm, I learned to distinguish between regular farming anxiety and the real deals. (One of my interviewees, Randy Johner, who runs a big operation in the Midale area, really helped me through his calm and positive attitude. Thank you!)
And while I now filter the farming stress pretty well, this year so far has definitely felt like a real deal.
Since last fall, the high fertilizer prices were the highlight. At least, farmers had enough time to digest the fact that it’s high and it’s going to stay high, at least for now, get over the peak of the stress associated with it, and just get themselves into huge bills that for many could smell like bankruptcy if not paid in the fall.
That alone created enough anxiety, but that wasn’t even the beginning.
June came through the doors somewhat unexpectedly this year.
Last weekend I was riding in a tractor, rolling the rocks – my annual duty at the farm – and couldn’t believe that it was already a calendar summer. Usually, by the first days of June, we complete the seeding and I'm done with rolling shortly after. This year, I'm just starting with my task.
I think tornado warnings are the only problems we are missing so far this seeding season. One may argue that it’s not the time for these yet, but I thought that it wasn’t the time for snowstorms in late April either.
A couple of storms that dumped a pile of snow on the area, of course, brought the much-needed moisture. But they also pulled the strings on more bells of anxiety. I was happy to see the cracks on the driveway filling in, but it was the first time since I got into a farming lifestyle when the snow was still melting in late April-early May.
The start of seeding was delayed for most of the farmers in southeast Saskatchewan and Manitoba. And that would be okay if once the snow was gone we could just get out in the fields and keep going.
If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.
The following rainstorms flooded parts of fields that were already seeded and those that haven’t been touched yet, further delaying the progress. Some seeds never sprouted due to high moisture, leaving fields patchy.
The forecasts with more precipitation coming over this way felt like a sword of Damocles that chased many farmers out into the half-dry fields. Dump stubbles made a mess here and there. I’m glad we didn’t have equipment stuck yet, but there definitely were more turning and twisting this year, as we had to seed around areas that were still under water.
Yet, when I was rolling my first field of this season, peas seeded there before the big rainfall were already pretty tall, and I had to be really gentle on my turns trying not to damage it as much.
Some parts of that field seemed pretty dry already, but others still had water standing there. And being on my first field in June definitely felt off.
It's the second week of June, and a few farmers are done, while others are getting close. All we need is probably another week of dry weather for now, and then some good rains during the growing season to bring that anxiety level down.
But sometimes I can't stop thinking about that genius that decided to domesticate wheat and settle down way back in the day. Couldn't he foresee that in reality, it will be the wheat that will make humans go crazy over its needs every single year?
