Canada Markets

Knock on wood, but early crop reports from Saskatchewan Agriculture show the current seeding progress in the province at the fastest pace seen in the past 15 years when comparing early May reports. As of May 4, 14% of the province's crop was seeded, up from 2% the previous week as well as above the five-year average of 2%. As seen on the attached chart, progress was minimal across the province as of the May 6 report in 2013 and the May 5 report in 2014.

A similar pace was last seen when 13% of the province's crop was reported as seeded as of May 6 2001 and 18% of the crop was reported as seeded as of May 7 2000.

Some obvious differences since 2000 when the province last hit this pace is seen in summerfallow acres, with Statistics Canada reporting 8.4 million acres of summerfallow in 2000 while the current estimate for 2015 is 1.850 million acres, suggesting that a great deal more ground will be covered this spring. Another shift over this period is the increase in pulse crop acres in the province, which allows for earlier planting. Statistics Canada estimates suggest that 2015 will see 110,000 more acres of peas and 1.6 million more acres of lentils than in 2000, while industry is suggesting that 2015 estimates for pulse acres are under-stated. Saskatchewan Agriculture suggests pulses such as peas and lentils are able to be seeded when the top inch of soil reaches 5 degrees Celsius.

Senior Ag Meteorologist Doug Webster reported Thursday that favorable weather should be seen across the Prairies over the next one to two weeks with "a good amount of sunny, dry weather expected." The Manitoba Cooperator reports the CWB's views that Manitoba is 40% seeded, led by the Central and Eastern regions, while the first crop report will be released by Alberta Agriculture later today which will show the southern part of the province in advanced stages.

A cooling trend will be watched over the weekend, with DTN's Friday Market Weather Outlook calling for as much as 1 to 2 feet of snow in Wyoming and South Dakota, a system which the National Weather Service shows as weakening as it moves north, but stretching through the Dakotas and up to the Manitoba border.

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

Follow Cliff Jamieson on Twitter @CliffJamieson

(ES)

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