Friday Crop Report
Seeding has basically stalled out at 98% across Saskatchewan. A lot of farmers have looked at the calendar, done the math, and decided 45 days simply isn’t enough to push a decent crop. At this point many are saying “good enough” and moving on to spraying.
The official reports always paint a rosy picture, and I sometimes wonder if that’s more for city folks who don’t understand Ag. It’s easy to mislead people who’ve never sat in a tractor.
Spraying situation
Spraying remains a massive headache. We’ve finally strung together a solid run — today marks Day 5 of decent spray weather in June — but next week brings July 1 and the days are already getting shorter. Once we pass the solstice the clock really starts ticking on daylight.
High humidity has at least helped the chemistry stick and work better, which is about the only positive lately. The crop across most of the prairies is behind. It could still catch up with a good stretch of heat, but the forecast just laughed and said “hold my beer” — another wet weekend is coming for Saturday.
Markets
Grain prices are crashing and the market clearly knows the score. Listened to another so-called specialist yesterday who obviously has no real grasp of what a late crop actually means. Then when frost hits they’ll all act shocked and say “nobody could have seen this coming.”
AI trading algorithms don’t analyze actual crop conditions either, so we’re flying somewhat blind on that front too.
Bottom line: we overpaid for fuel, fertilizer, and everything else this spring. Now our payday is dropping like a stone. A lot of fields around here went to lentils, peas, or chickpeas, so many growers didn’t have extra cash for heavy fertilizer anyway.
Our farm
Still pushing through the spray schedule. Drop-in complete engines aren’t cheap, so we’re nursing everything we’ve got. FML on that note.
Would appreciate hearing how things look in your area — south, north, east, or west. Drop your local observations below.
Stay safe out there and keep the sprayers rolling while the windows are open.
Seeding has basically stalled out at 98% across Saskatchewan. A lot of farmers have looked at the calendar, done the math, and decided 45 days simply isn’t enough to push a decent crop. At this point many are saying “good enough” and moving on to spraying.
The official reports always paint a rosy picture, and I sometimes wonder if that’s more for city folks who don’t understand Ag. It’s easy to mislead people who’ve never sat in a tractor.
Spraying situation
Spraying remains a massive headache. We’ve finally strung together a solid run — today marks Day 5 of decent spray weather in June — but next week brings July 1 and the days are already getting shorter. Once we pass the solstice the clock really starts ticking on daylight.
High humidity has at least helped the chemistry stick and work better, which is about the only positive lately. The crop across most of the prairies is behind. It could still catch up with a good stretch of heat, but the forecast just laughed and said “hold my beer” — another wet weekend is coming for Saturday.
Markets
Grain prices are crashing and the market clearly knows the score. Listened to another so-called specialist yesterday who obviously has no real grasp of what a late crop actually means. Then when frost hits they’ll all act shocked and say “nobody could have seen this coming.”
AI trading algorithms don’t analyze actual crop conditions either, so we’re flying somewhat blind on that front too.
Bottom line: we overpaid for fuel, fertilizer, and everything else this spring. Now our payday is dropping like a stone. A lot of fields around here went to lentils, peas, or chickpeas, so many growers didn’t have extra cash for heavy fertilizer anyway.
Our farm
Still pushing through the spray schedule. Drop-in complete engines aren’t cheap, so we’re nursing everything we’ve got. FML on that note.
Would appreciate hearing how things look in your area — south, north, east, or west. Drop your local observations below.
Stay safe out there and keep the sprayers rolling while the windows are open.
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