Many producers in the area are especially busy this spring clearing up from last year's very wet fall while preparing for planting in the weeks ahead, says Grant Lastiwka, with Alberta Agriculture in Olds.
Lastiwka recently gave his regular monthly update to the Mountain View County agricultural services board.
"A lot of people are getting keen and at the same time it's been a bit of a challenge because there are areas that were left from last year," said Lastiwka. "And those areas are still wet and so it's a question of warming up and drying up enough to address those areas.
"There are some crops that still have to be combined because of AFSC (Alberta Financial Services Corporation) requiring attempts to combine or adjusters to come out and chose to write off that crop. Producers are still waiting on some of those acres and determining what to do with them."
Wet conditions last fall prevented some producers from getting their crops off the fields.
"In some cases the weather just didn't cooperate in that area for that type of crop," he said. "There are areas that got left by a lot of people who just couldn't get at them."
Asked if the crops can be salvaged, he said, "It's going to be trying to combine to see if there is something there to salvage. And that's why Alberta crop insurance has wanted them to try to combine in spring and give that attempt a good try. That is why they haven't written off these crops until such time as they view it is not plausible to be harvested."
The need to combine now is in some cases getting in the way of spring planting preparations, he noted.
"People are trying to get all their equipment ready for spring and some people still have to keep their harvest equipment out and make sure it is ready to go first," he said.
"With that in mind it is another stress and another thing to be dealt with by some people. We know that the majority of producers like to be going, depending on weather, in the very last part of April and early May and look to be seeding someplace in that timeline too."
One bit of good news this spring is the soil moisture conditions, he said.
"I think we are sitting very good," he said. "Soil moisture in the province is very good. Where last year we were dry when we started, it is not at all like that this year. That's the good news."
"A lot of people are getting keen and at the same time it's been a bit of a challenge because there are areas that were left from last year."Grant LastiwkaAlberta Agriculture Olds
