Saskatchewan farmers who struggled to plant a crop this spring are giving winter wheat a closer look.
Brian Berrns, who farms in eastern Saskatchewan, was unable to seed about a third of his land because of excess moisture. He is among those thinking of putting at least a portion of those acres into winter wheat this fall. He said it will spread out his workload while also protecting the unseeded land from erosion.
“I’m not a summerfallow type of person,” he said. “I don’t like to see land lay fallow. I’m somewhat concerned about erosion, especially on some of our lighter soils.”
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Kevin Hardy, an agrologist with Ducks Unlimited Canada, said interest in winter wheat had already begun to mount in the spring as farmers battling with excess moisture debated whether to plant into soggy soils or leave the land in fallow. Interest has remained strong through the summer.
“The inquiries are certainly there,” said Hardy. “I think there’s going to be significant uptake on the chem fallow acres.”
He noted that spring seeded crops are maturing rapidly, which could assist farmers wanting to plant winter wheat this fall.
There were about 300,000 acres planted to winter wheat and fall rye in Saskatchewan last fall, said Jake Davidson of Winter Cereals Canada. He anticipates there will be at least as many winter wheat acres planted this fall, partly due to land left idle because of excess moisture.
“The guys in the wet areas were very definitely thinking of doing the winter wheat thing into the chem fallow.”
The winter wheat crop that was planted last year appears to be faring well, according to Davidson and Hardy. Some harvesting of the crop is already under way, particularly in Manitoba, and yields seem decent.
Despite some blips along the way, the acres planted to winter wheat on the Prairies have been increasing over the past few years. There were a couple of years where the crop was set back because harvest of spring seeded crops was slowed by weather, and delayed farmers who wanted to plant in the fall.
Davidson anticipates a further expansion of the crop, partly due to the growth of ethanol production in Western Canada.
