Crops a month late from Camrose to Regina

Gerald Pilger, who farms near Camrose, Alta., and who writes regularly in Grainews, drove to the Farm Progress Show in Regina. He and his wife left home on Thursday, spent Friday at the show and Saturday with their daughter Shyla (who is in RCMP training in Regina) and returned home on Sunday. He took this photo of a sad looking canola crop. It was a common theme for the trip.

Gerald writes: "I cannot believe how late (and poor) the crops are nearly all the way to Regina. I would guess less than half of the crops have been sprayed. Many are just now at the stage for spraying. Talking to people at the show I understand it was too dry for good germination early in the spring, then too cold for good growth. Furthermore frost, especially in eastern Sask and western Manitoba, further set back crops. A BASF rep I talked to at the show says crops are a month behind. I would have estimated three weeks.

Here is a picture of a canola field taken west of Purdue, Sask. While this crop is likely one of the poorer canola stands, those plants which did grow are likely further ahead than most canola fields from Killam, Alta. east."