FTLComm - Tisdale - May 27, 1999

In a drive twenty kilometres South of Tisdale on highway #35 Wednesday night this operation and two others were the only field operations I noticed in progress, it appeared as though most other fields had already been planted for the year. Of the other operations two appeared to be harrowing already seeded fields. From this simple sample it would appear that in the immediate Tisdale area the 1999 crop is all but in the ground. Compared to the remarkably early planting of 1998 this is of course almost a month later. However, when I mentioned this to one local farmer he explained to me that though most of his crop is up and looking good, as he had his crop in the ground before the rain, he said that the difference between getting a crop in the ground now and three weeks ago amounts to as little as five to six days. The high temperatures now produce more rapid germination and accelerated growth so that early planted crops may only appear to have a quick head start but in reality the more favourable growing conditions now make up considerably for the difference. The other factor that enters into this process is the longer growing day. With more sunlight now growth is much faster. Soil moisture conditions and the planting sequence are considered by most to be almost ideal conditions and bode well for this years crop. There is little discussion at this time about prices, farmers are focusing on getting this year's crop on its way and find it much more positive to deal with growing conditions then market ones. Most farmers have planted an average pattern of crops this year, that is compared to other years they are planting about the same amount of canola, barley, wheat, flax and peas. Minor adjustments have seen slightly lower amounts of peas, barley and canola then last year but the amounts are insignificant as many farmers have planted consistently what they have in other years while a few have just made small changes in varieties planted.