Winter wheat growers usually depend on the weather and the timing of harvest when trying to get the crop in the ground.
However, there’s another factor to worry about this year – a shortage of certified seed in Western Canada.
“The severity of the shortage is going to depend on what happens the next few weeks and how soon some of these (winter wheat) crops come off,” said Jake Davidson, executive manager of Winter Cereals Canada.
“This year’s crop can go right into the ground again…. It’s just a matter of whether we can get the crop off, as far as seed growers go, with this weather.”
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Seed growers couldn’t sell winter wheat last fall because the harvest was later than usual and cold, wet weather in October kept producers off the land.
“Last year there was very little demand (for winter wheat seed) because the fall didn’t work for us,” Davidson said.
Seed growers ended up selling their winter wheat rather than keeping it in stock.
“I don’t carry over seed because I like to have the cash flow when it’s there,” said Warren Kaeding, who runs Wagon Wheel Seed in Churchbridge, Sask.
As a result, only a small supply of pedigreed winter wheat seed was available this summer, Davidson said.
“As far as seed left from last year, my guess is most of it has been bought up.”
Many winter wheat growers will now have to wait until this year’s crop of certified seed is harvested before they can seed their own fields.
The weather over the next month could exacerbate or mitigate the seed shortage, but the lack of pedigreed seed acres this year is also a factor.
Poor seeding conditions last fall severely reduced winter wheat acres in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where most of the prairie crop is grown.
“Our estimate is down to 200,000 acres in each province last year,” Davidson said, which is a far cry from the 1.2 million acres seeded in Manitoba and Saskatchewan in 2008.
Wet conditions last autumn were also a problem, Kaeding said.
“There are very few guys that have pedigreed seed fields this year.”
Davidson said winter wheat remains a hot crop in 2010 despite the shortage of certified seed.
“This is the most interest we’ve ever had in winter wheat seed because of unseeded acreage from the spring,” he said.
“They (producers) are going to find winter wheat but it may not be certified. It’s going to drive guys into the common seed market.”
Finding high quality common seed may also be more challenging than usual because of high levels of fusarium head blight in Manitoba.
