About 30% of soggy north-eastern Saskatchewan, or more than one million acres designated for wheat, rapeseed and barley, might go unplanted this year, said Wheat Board crop and weather analyst Stuart McMillan, as spring rains and a wet forecast leave farmers hard-pressed to plant before insurance deadlines.

 

"Some of those guys are certainly not going to be able to get crop in the ground," McMillan said. If the Saskatchewan government offers compensation above current programmes for acres that are too wet to seed, the number of unplanted acres could rise even further, he said.

 

Saskatchewan's government crop insurance agency on Thursday (June 3) extended seeding deadlines to June 15 or 20, depending on the area and the crop.

 

Planting in Saskatchewan, the country's top crop-producing province, is stuck well behind normal at 59%. Canadian farmers may have to replant 100,000 to 200,000 acres, McMillan said, mostly in Manitoba which had a once-in-50-years rainstorm last weekend.

 

Canada is the world's third largest grower of rapeseed, and the No. 6 producer of wheat.

 

The entire Canadian Prairies, with the exception of the Rocky foothills and Peace region, has received above-normal precipitation this spring, with many areas getting more than twice as much rain as normal during the April-May planting period, according to Canada's agriculture department.

 

A large part of central Saskatchewan around North Battleford, Saskatoon and Rosetown received more than 120 mm (4.7 inches) of rain above average in April and May and much of the region set wetness records.

 

Saskatchewan farmers who are able to plant may abandon rapeseed for shorter-season spring wheat and barley, McMillan said.