Winter cereals are faring well this spring, largely because of ideal growing conditions last fall.
“It was a nearly ideal fall; it stayed warm a long time then gradually cooled down until freeze-up,” said Bob Linell of Winter Cereals Canada. “Most areas got good snow cover after that.”
He said most of the fall cereals, especially winter wheat, had time to develop strong crowns with growing points well below the soil’s surface, improving winter hardiness.
“The folks who didn’t get their winter wheat in are looking around wishing they did,” Linell said.
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Rebecca Wiebe of Cargill in Clavet, Sask., has seen “really best-ever looking winter wheat this year.”
She said frost slowed crops slightly near Humboldt, Sask., but most are progressing better than early-seeded spring crops.
“They always have an advantage over the spring crops, but with the cold this season they have a real jump on the spring plants,” she said.
Ten days of heavy frost in early May caused varying amounts of damage to winter wheat across the Prairies.
Producers reported heavy damage near Langbank, Sask., while growers in western Manitoba and eastern and central Saskatchewan say crop damage has been limited to leaf tip burn-off.
Phil Thomas of Agritrend in Red Deer said the growing point in a well-established winter cereal will take “a lot of frost because it is located below the soil surface.
But the plant leaves won’t stand unlimited heavy freezing indefinitely.
“By the end of May or early June they act like a spring-seeded cereal at the same stage.”
Bob Linell agreed.
“Crops at that stage are all vulnerable. But we are seeing little real damage.”
Crop insurance inspectors around Wilcox, Sask., found damage on crops that were seeded late in September or even the first week of October.
Earlier-seeded crops appeared to weather the low temperatures with little or no injury.
Ron Gares of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration in Dauphin, Man., said the crop had suffered frost damage but it is recovering dramatically.
“The winter wheat is doing really well in the (western Manitoba) zones where it has been dry and cold,” Gares said.
“Farmers were hesitant to even plant canola and flax until this last rain. The fall-seeded crops have got the roots already and have an advantage this year.”
Wiebe said the she plans to promote fall-seeded crops again this fall.
“So far (in my agrology practice) I haven’t seen a year when the fall-seeded crops don’t make a lot sense.”
Linell said even though the crop brings lower prices when compared to other wheat, its higher yields and potential marketability on and off the Canadian Wheat Board should make it a staple for prairie farmers.
Vern Racz of the Prairie Feed Resource Centre in Saskatoon said producers of this year’s crop will have plenty of opportunity to market their crop “right off the combine to swine producers.
“Those producers will buy cheap feed grains at a big discount.
“But they much prefer to pay a few dollars more for a stable, high quality crop, and winter wheat is that crop.”
Linell said new ethanol plants, such as the one under development in Weyburn, Sask., are potentially another market for the fall-seeded wheat.
“If we don’t have a huge boost in plantings this fall it will only be because of weather,” he said.
The prairie crop fell to 410,000 acres this year from 650,000 acres in 2004 because of poor fall planting conditions.
