By Kara Oosterhuis

Farmers head out to fields to begin seeding

Apr 20, 2017 | 2:22 PM

MEDICINE HAT –  Temperatures are starting to shift into the high teens and low twenties, which pushes farmers to get out into the fields.

Producers are starting to get a feel for how this year is going to look, and what sort of moisture was left behind during the winter.

Michael Robinson of Agro-Plus Solutions says that conditions are looking much better than they were at this time last year, when the fields were looking very dry.

Moisture is great for growing, but that also means the crop has some competition.

“We are seeing a lot of kochia, a lot of grasses over the winter are starting to come through. So we are starting to see a lot of weeds coming up so certainly farmers are going to have to take notice and make sure they do something ahead of time to help themselves going into the spring seeding season,” says Robinson.

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Roger Lobb, a farmer in the County of Forty-Mile agrees, and says that weeds are something that have definitely been noticed this year, adding that wild oats have been the most common.

Another concern farmers have is the quality of seed that they are putting in the ground.

Some producers grow seed to sell, and when a wet year like last year occurs, the quality of seed that is sold goes down, which ultimately affects future crops.

“Because of some of the conditions we saw last fall some of the seed quality is going to be not as good as what we’ve experienced in the past so producers are really going to have to start looking at what quality of seed they’ve got,” says Robinson.

“They need to know what they are putting in the ground to make sure they are either using good seed treatment, or seeding into conditions that are going to be conducive to them so that they are off to a good start.”

Most of the farmers that are just getting started with seeding are putting cereal crops in the ground such as wheat, barley, and rye, as well as oilseeds such as canola.