June 23, 2009

Widespread rainfall over the weekend provided much-needed precipitation for some of the drier areas of Saskatchewan.

However, the moisture may have come too late for some crops and was all but non-existent in most of the dry areas of Alberta, said Bruce Burnett, head of the Canadian Wheat Board's weather and crop surveillance department.

While 15 millimetres of rain were reported in Edmonton, "Alberta mostly missed out on the precipitation," Burnett said Monday (Jun 22).

"On the Saskatchewan side they did get some very good rains - anywhere from 15 to 30 plus millimetres - depending on the area," he said. Burnett said the rains were welcome, but could have come too late for some crops. "It's a good rain, it would have been better if it had been three weeks ago," he said, noting that yield losses are already expected in many cases.

For the fields that hadn't germinated yet, due to dryness, the weekend moisture basically works out to a planting date of June 22, said Burnett, which will likely be too late to get a crop. However, those fields only germinating now could provide potential greenfeed opportunities for livestock producers, as feed supplies are short in those dry areas, he said.

For those fields that were already established, the weekend rains should cause the crops to pick up, said Burnett, adding that "hopefully this is the start of more rain."