Canada Markets

The crop report release today by Saskatchewan Agriculture is but a snapshot in time for the June 10 to 16 period, with data pointing to a good crop on the way although later than recent years in terms of its stage of development.

Both the Southeastern and East-Central regions continue to face challenges, with 91% and 93% of the seeding complete in these regions, respectively. With provincial seeding progress reported to be 95% complete as of June 16, it would appear that some 1.8 million acres may be in jeopardy given Statistics Canada's early estimate of 35.530 million acres to be seeded in the province this spring. June 27 will see an updated version of the seeded acreage report. Social media reports from the Farm Progress Show in Regina are mentioning growers in the southeast who've seeded just 25% of their acres with some falling even below this level.

It would be easy to get excited over the ratings for Saskatchewan crops in this period. The Good to Excellent ratings are well ahead of the three-year average and in some cases even higher than year-ago levels, with the 2013 crop going on to become a record for the province.

The Good to Excellent rating for spring wheat was reported at 87%, above the 85% reported last year. At 84% Good to Excellent for durum and 79% for canola, both ratings are just 2% behind their 2013 ratings for the similar time period. Also shown on the attached chart are lentils, rated at 86% Good to Excellent and 1% higher than last year, as well as peas, which were rated at 88% and 2% above year-ago levels.

At the same time, the crop is delayed due to the cool, wet weather seen over much of the prairies this spring. Not shown on the chart is the fact that fall cereals, spring cereals and oilseeds are all viewed to be 11 percentage points behind the year-ago stage of development, while pulse crops are rated as being 10 percentage points behind year ago development stages. 47% of the spring wheat crop is reported to be at or ahead of normal development stages, while this time last year 58% was rated at this level. While 44% of the canola is viewed to be at normal or ahead of normal development stages, last year this number was 55%. The crop will need heat soon in order to advance it.

DTN 360 Poll: Did the seeding delays over the past few weeks lead to changes in your cropping plans? You can weigh in with on DTN's 360 Poll, found on your DTN Home Page. Feel free to drop a comment. Thanks for your support.

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

Follow Cliff Jamieson on Twitter @CliffJamieson

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