The fluffy white clouds floating overhead weren’t fooling Bob Vandaele, who farms 7,400 acres near Medora, Man.
His farm lies in the centre of Manitoba’s big dry, which covers the area south of Highway 2 and west of Highway 10 to the Saskatchewan border.
“I’m waiting for the actual rain to fall,” said Vandaele, who parked his seeder last week after soil moisture left over from last winter’s meager snowfall dried up.
He managed to seed 1,000 acres of canola and peas and 1,100 acres of barley before deciding to hold back until it rains.
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“We still have over half of our acres to go yet,” Vandaele said.
The canola is doing well, with the roots reaching into a bit of moisture.
He’s still optimistic about this year’s chances, noting that in the 1980s, many farmers didn’t get their crops in until early June. With modern equipment, he figures, by seeding round the clock, he could finish within a week if conditions improve.
Most farmers in the area have stopped seeding until it rains, said Scott Day, a Manitoba Agriculture diversification specialist based in Melita.
“The Souris River ran dry on May 1, and no one can ever remember it doing that before.”
Snowfall was sparse, and apart from 13 millimetres of rain in October, it hasn’t rained in the area since last July 3.
“If you were to travel between Deloraine and Boissevain, you would be amazed to see how many fields aren’t seeded,” Day said.
Because cereals can be seeded deeper into what’s left of the soil moisture, more than 80 percent of those crops are in the ground, but Day said many farmers are holding off on canola, flax and sunflowers until they get a decent rain on their powder-dry fields.
Parts of southeastern Saskatchewan are also dry, but an April snowstorm topped up soil moisture levels somewhat, he added.
On May 15, no rain was in the forecast for the next 10 days, except for a sprinkling predicted for May 19. In the meantime, many farmers have chosen to grit their teeth and stand pat.
“The problem with canola is, do you go (deeper) to moisture, or do you just put it into dust and wait for rain?” Day said.
“If you’re sitting there waiting, then you might as well wait until the crop insurance deadline.”
He said farmers must consider many factors before seeding in a dry spring.
Apart from being hard on equipment, direct seeding with banded fertilizer into cool, parched soil can result in seed damage. With little weed growth so far, many farmers are wondering whether a pre-season burn down is necessary, considering the conditions.
“Seeding today or seeding a week from now isn’t going to make a big difference when it’s so dry,” Day said.
Patchy, uneven crops may result if the high spots are dry and the low parts moist, he added.
To add to farmers’ stress, crop insurance covers their losses only if they put seed in the ground.
“It’s stressful being a farmer,” said Craig Thompson, vice-president of insurance operations at Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp.
He said farmers would be covered if fields were too wet to seed, but whenever there’s a dry spring, they wonder why crop insurance doesn’t cover them if they don’t seed.
Under crop insurance rules, the “physical impossibility” of putting a crop in because of mucky conditions makes them eligible for a payout.
He said when the soil is dry, different farmers have different management styles.
“Some will put the seed in the ground hoping that it’s going to rain in time. Some say, ‘I’m not putting the seed in the ground until I get some moisture.’ “
Thompson said farmers who attempt to hedge against possible losses caused by an extended drought by seeding and then holding back on costly inputs would be practicing inadequate management and would face a reduced payout.
However, producers know that early seeding generally pays off in higher yields and every week of the growing season that is lost may cost them at harvest.
“With the commodity prices high, people obviously want to get the best yields they can,” he said.
“It adds another level of frustration and stress because they know that the pot of gold is out there, but they’re not getting off to a very good start.”
Vandaele criticized the crop insurance rule, saying the “unseeded acres” caveat should be modified to “non-productive acres.”
“Unseeded is unseeded. If there was a reason for it, and it was beyond our control, then crop insurance should pay out.”
Day said the debate would end if the skies would just open up and let loose a good rain.
Cattle producers are worse off than their grain-farming neighbours, he added, because cool, dry weather has slowed growth and many watering holes have dried up.
“For grain production, even if it rains half an inch, we’ll be off to the races for a while, whereas half an inch wouldn’t correct the problems with a lot of pastures.”
