Canada Markets

Saskatchewan Agriculture reports the crop condition in the province to range from poor crops to excellent crops, while the majority of the crop is rated as fair to good, which can be viewed as an improvement from the poor-to-good description reported in past weeks.

A look at the biweekly crop condition ratings for major crops shows continuous improvement seen since June 17 data was released. For example, the crop condition index for spring wheat has increased 81 points to 176, durum has improved 90 points to 154, dry peas have increased 99 points to 183, lentils have improved 103 points to an index of 166 and canola has improved 104 points to 148.

Crop conditions reported vary from past years. Of selected crops shown on the attached chart, the current crop condition (green bars) is rated higher than the last ratings released in 2018 on July 23 for durum, oats, barley, peas and lentils. The spring wheat condition is only 5 points behind the late July index calculated in 2018.

Of selected crops, crops faring the poorest relative to last year is winter wheat (-36 points), flax (-12 points), canola (-18 points) and soybeans (-24 points), with the year-over-year change in crop condition index shown in brackets.

When compared to the five-year average of late-July data, winter wheat, spring wheat, flax, canola and soybeans trail the average, with the largest variance seen in winter wheat. Spring wheat is only 1.2 points below the five-year average, while the canola index is 15.2 points below average.

DTN's forecast points to limited precipitation for the province in the seven-day forecast, with showers favoring the eastern and northeastern side of the province. A warming trend is moving across the province, with day-time highs forecast to range from 4-6 C above normal over most of the growing area. The province's topsoil moisture rating shows that 22% of the province is rated as short-to-very-short topsoil moisture, the poorest rating shown in six weeks after recovering from the July low of 11% although far below than the 61% reported this time last year.

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The seven-day precipitation map forecasts limited accumulation for the province, with forecast showers favoring the eastern side of the province

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

Follow him on Twitter @Cliff Jamieson

(AG)

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