Farmers get early, dry start to planting

St. Albert-area farmers say they’ll need plenty of rain this May if they want their crops to sprout from their bone-dry fields.

Unusually dry conditions let Sturgeon County farmers get an early start on spring seeding this week.

While Sturgeon County farmers traditionally start putting crops in the ground in around May 1, Morinville-area grain grower Ron Krywko said most area farmers would be out planting as of April 26 this year.

“The fields are actually ready to go moisture-wise,” he said, speaking April 21, and warm temperatures this week should provide the necessary heat for germination.

Most farmers will have been busy in the last few weeks prepping their machinery for spring seeding, said Craig Solberg, sales manager at Sturgeon Valley Fertilizers. Only a handful of early-birds would have started last week, which was when soil temperatures reached the 3 C minimum needed to ensure proper germination. Most would have waited until this week for 5 C or 8 C temperatures to prevent losses from frost.

Dieter Kuhlmann said the crew at Kuhlmann’s (a frequent presence at St. Albert’s farmers’ market) has been growing tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouse since March 1 and now have them ready for sale.

“Our first carrots went into the ground yesterday,” he said, speaking April 21, adding that they would be ready to pick in about two weeks.

Kuhlmann said vegetable growers will generally wait until they see the first weeds before planting peas and cabbages and hold off on cucumbers and other frost-averse crops until mid-May. He advised urban garden owners to start raking their soil this week to get them warm enough for seeding.

“Once you see weeds growing, you can start working your garden,” he said.

Dry times ahead?

Sturgeon County heads into this year’s growing season with little in the tank in terms of moisture, data from the Alberta Climate Information Service suggests. Soil moisture reserves for spring wheat were very low (once in 12-to-25 years) or extremely low (once in 25-to-50) throughout the county as of April 13, with just 20 to 30 mm of rain or snow having fallen on the area in the previous 90 days. Much of Alberta was seeing similarly dry conditions.

There’s enough water in the ground to get seeds started, but farmers will need a lot more by about the third week of May to ensure proper growth, Solberg said.

“We went into the fall quite dry, and we need moisture.”

Solberg said most weather forecasts had predicted scattered showers in the county for the next few weeks. Environment Canada had projected near-normal temperatures and precipitation for the Sturgeon County region from April to June as of March 31.

Solberg said most farmers will be busy with planting this year’s crops for the next four to eight weeks, which could make it tough for some to keep abreast of issues in the upcoming provincial election. He asked drivers to be patient in the weeks ahead as farmers would often have to drive big, slow pieces of agricultural equipment along rural roads.

Kuhlmann said he was cautiously optimistic about this year’s crops, and hoped Alberta would see a repeat of last year’s extra-long growing season.

“I’m looking forward to a busy spring.”

Alberta Agriculture is scheduled to issue its first crop report of the year on May 5.