Saskatchewan farmers are packing away their seeding equipment for another year and will begin assessing the fallout from a frustrating, rain-soaked planting season.Estimates vary widely, but it is believed that as many as six to eight million acres could go unseeded in the province this year.To make matters worse, many of the crops that have been seeded are stressed and plant growth is delayed.In some cases, cereals that have germinated are rotting in the ground because of excess moisture and lack of oxygen.Statistics Canada reported in late March that Saskatchewan farmers planned to sow 33 million acres this spring.Thirty percent of that land was unseeded as of June 7, according to Saskatchewan Agriculture, which is almost 10 million acres.Ministry spokesperson Grant McLean said last week that additional planting is likely to occur before crop insurance deadlines.However, 2010 seeded acreage is expected to fall well short of Statistics Canada projections.“There are some individuals that are still seeding but it’s very, very spotty,” McLean said June 10. “Our reporters are indicating that farmers are quitting or are very close to quitting. It’s very close to a done deal.”In east-central and northeastern Saskatchewan – two of the hardest hit areas – producers last week had all but abandoned any notions of planting more acres.The ground is too wet, seeding costs are too high and planting into heavily saturated soil is too risky.Instead, many are resigned to collecting crop insurance payments of $50 per unseeded acre.“It’s been pretty frustrating, that’s for sure,” said grain and oilseed producer Victor Perrot, who farms with his son Joey near Naicam, Sask., 200 kilometres east of Saskatoon.“We’ve had some wet springs in the past but I’m not sure I can remember anything like this.“It’s desperation for a lot of guys and it’s not only the farmers that will be affected. It’s going to affect everyone down the line, including the elevator companies and the machinery dealerships. Everybody connected to agriculture is going to feel this.”Like many farmers in his area, Perrot and his son got off to a good start but soon became bogged down by persistent, recurring rain.As of June 10, the Perrots had seeded about half of the 6,200 acres they had hoped to plant this spring.Cereal crops that have emerged are yellow or have been drowned by standing water. Spraying operations have been delayed indefinitely until stunted crops rebound and waterlogged fields begin to dry up.“Our goal now is to try and get those unseeded acres fit for next year,” Perrot said. “I really feel bad for the younger people who are trying to get their feet in the door. … It’s one more nail in the coffin to try and bring young people back to the farm.”Thirty kilometres away near St. Brieux, Sask., Ed Daubenfeld and his son, Chad, are facing a similar situation.The Daubenfelds have dumped almost 300 millimetres of water out of their farmyard rain gauge since April 1. Normal amounts are 90 mm.“I thought I had seen everything that nature could throw at us, but I’ve never seen this much rain in the spring,” said Daubenfeld, who planted his first crop in 1964.He said farmers in the St. Brieux area had seeded 25 to 50 percent of their crops as of June 10.He and his son had hoped to seed 2,500 acres but managed to plant only 1,300 before parking their drill May 22.“It’s very doubtful we’ll put any more in this year,” he said.“We’ve been checking and probably half of what we have in the ground is under water.”Most farmers in the St. Brieux area also received 125 to 150 mm of rain last fall.With so much moisture, the prospect of planting a viable crop before the June 20 crop insurance deadline has all but disappeared.“We went into freeze-up with a lot of moisture on top of our fields, so to add this much more on top of it makes it pretty tough,” Daubenfeld said.“I’m not sure people who got a crop in are much better off.… A lot of people are saying they’re more worried about what they have seeded rather than what they haven’t seeded.”Near Melfort, brothers Pete and Doug McLean were planning to seed 7,000 acres this year.They had bought a new 535 horsepower tractor and a 75 foot Bourgault hoe drill.The new rig planted 2,400 acres before May 19 but hasn’t turned a wheel since.“I don’t think anybody could ever have guessed that we’d have that kind of weather since last October,” said Pete, glancing toward a shallow lake that has swallowed up one of his nearby fields.“We’ve had more than 18 (450 mm), almost 19 inches (480 mm) of rain here since last October. We’re just too wet. We can’t take any more. There’s no place for it to go.”McLean said the new drill probably won’t seed another acre this spring.“Can I throw … $150,000 worth of nitrogen into the ground on the 15th of June and drive around in circles and go like a fool and hope to make anything out of it? I don’t think so.“At a certain point in time, it’s like playing poker. There’s some hands you can win and some you shouldn’t be in. Unfortunately, when you’re getting this late and this wet, we probably shouldn’t be in this game.”Meanwhile, the effects of the delayed seeding spread. Shares of Viterra fell 62 cents early on June 14 to $7.60.As well, analysts said Canada’s oat crop was likely to be the smallest in decades, and Chicago futures have soared 25 percent.Canola futures in Canada and spring wheat futures on the Minneapolis exchange are also up sharply, an indicator that markets are expecting reduced production.
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