Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm — Manitoba farmers pushed their spring planting to 57 per cent complete as of May 21, up 24 points from a week ago, the province’s agriculture department reported.
The current pace stood 12 points above the five-year average, rather remarkable given the amount of rain Manitoba received over the last eight days.
For cereals, the report said most of the province’s spring wheat has been seeded, while oats and barley catching up. Also, the winter wheat and fall rye were in average to above average condition.
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Among the oilseeds, the planting of sunflowers was more than 80 per cent finished, with canola and flax at 30 per cent each.
Manitoba Ag placed soybeans at 40 per cent planted.
For the pulses, field peas reached 96 per cent complete while dry beans were getting started.
The department noted the largest amount of rainfall was 88.5 millimetres in the Morden area, down to 3.2 mm in the Elma area.
The cooler temperatures Manitoba has experienced has slowed forage growth, but that and pasture conditions are expected to improve. However, in the province’s southeast recent wildfires adversely impacted pastures and infrastructure.
Nearly all of Manitoba’s corn for silage or for grazing has been planted.
The ag department reported a number of pests are active, including striped and cruciferous beetles, dingy cutworms, wireworms in the central region. In the Interlake, flea beetles are becoming more common and there have been low counts of diamondback moths in traps.
