Persistent rains have washed away fears of Canadian growers flooding lentil markets with too much product, said Saskatchewan’s special crops specialist.“A lot of people who were planning on sowing lentils this year have probably dropped that idea,” said Dale Risula.He estimated one million of the three million acres that the province’s growers intended to seed have been lost. That land may be planted to barley, Polish canola or oats.“I don’t know that that is necessarily a bad thing,” said Risula.Importers have been reluctant to contract lentils in anticipation of a record North American harvest. Risula said three million acres would have weakened prices.He expects more green lentil acres could be lost than reds, which can be sown later than large greens.Dave Walker, general manager of Walker Seeds Ltd., has a more conservative estimate of acreage losses after spending three hours in a plane touring Saskatchewan on June 7.“Honestly, the west side of the province is in great shape and that’s where the majority of the (lentil) acres are,” said Walker.Based on Saskatchewan Agriculture’s 2009 crop district production estimates, two-thirds of the lentil crop was grown in the western region.“Directly south of Regina in the Regina plains, it’s a mess,” said Walker. He estimated that 65 percent of the lentils planned for that area were seeded and 25 percent is at risk.Provincewide, he projects that 85 percent of the crop was seeded, resulting in about 2.7 million acres of lentils.Brian Clancey, editor of Stat Publishing, has the same seeded number.In a June 11 newsletter, he speculated that number could rise in advance of the June 15 crop insurance seeding deadline because growers could bank on the potential for higher crop insurance payouts for lentils over other grains.Risula said most of the peas grown in the brown and dark brown soil zones were seeded but that wasn’t the case in the black and thin black zones.Walker estimated that pea planting is about half complete in the northeast and east-central portions of the province.He pegs provincewide seeding at about 65 to 70 percent of what was intended.He had no specific number for chickpeas but said it will fall short of expectations.Statistics Canada said growers intended to seed 125,000 acres but one major processor thought it would be twice that amount.Risula said there is heightened potential for weed infestations and disease outbreaks due to the wet weather.“If this weather continues on a wet cycle for any period of time, then (growers) will probably have to apply more fungicide than they normally do,” he said.That’s one of the reasons he feels the acreage reduction might be a blessing in disguise. Inexperienced pulse growers may have dodged a bullet because lentils are not easy to grow.“We may have avoided a whole lot of problems,” he said.He is particularly concerned about an ascochyta blight outbreak in chickpeas.Walker is more concerned about the lateness of the crop. Lentil planting was about 10 days behind normal in western Saskatchewan and more than that in the east.Another concern is that emerging lentils are yellow, indicating troubles fixing and using the available nitrogen in the drenched soil.Depending on the severity of the nutrient deficiency, it could reduce yield and delay crop maturity.Walker said that problem and potential weed and disease problems could be easily resolved by hot weather.“We’re not too, too concerned just yet,” he said.If the hot weather doesn’t come, pulses will continue to flower, delaying maturity and leading to variability in seed size, which is a quality issue for red lentils and chickpeas, said Risula.If sunshine returns and producers are blessed with an open fall, they could easily produce a crop with average yields and good quality.“It’s not over yet,” he said.
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