Canada Markets

Saskatchewan Agriculture's weekly Crop Report as of June 12 shows crops faring well overall, despite drier conditions faced during the past week.

Provincial crop inspectors have rated the crop condition for all crops to range from fair to excellent overall. Of the 14 crops monitored, the provincial condition ratings range from 64% good to excellent for chickpeas to 92% G/E for the soybean crop. The largest crops show condition at 81% G/E for spring wheat, 72% G/E for durum, 82% for barley and 77% G/E for canola.

Favourable ratings remain while soil moisture deteriorated over the week. An estimated 66% of the province is rated as having adequate topsoil moisture, down from 78% last week and the lowest percentage reported in three weeks. The area rated short-to-very-short topsoil moisture has increased from 15% of the province last week to 32% this week, the highest percentage reported in three weeks. The driest areas are mostly seen in the western half of the province.

An estimated 85% of the winter crops (69%), 76% of the spring cereals (50%), 76% of the oilseeds (41%) and 83% of the pulse crops (60%) are viewed as being at normal growth stages for this week, which compares to the 2022 estimate, found in brackets. These are the most favourable ratings found for this week shown in at least nine years.

As seen on the attached chart, the crop condition index calculated for the week ending June 12 has slipped modestly lower from the first rating released as of May 29. This is shown by the blue bars for the current week compared to the brown bars. This ranges from a small 2 percentage point drop seen for flax to a 27-point drop seen for durum. Of the largest crops, spring wheat has fallen by 22 points and canola fell by a modest 6 points.

Comparable data is not available for this week in 2022, while the green bars represent the four-year (2018-21) average, showing current crop ratings still well above this average. The spring wheat index is the highest seen since 2018 and the canola index is the highest seen in more than six years.

Cliff Jamieson can be reached at cliff.jamieson@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @Cliff Jamieson

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