A lot of crop went in the ground this week as farmers took advantage of warm, dry conditions.

There are varying opinions about the strong wind, which was often in the 30 to 60 kilometre an hour range. It was beneficial in the wetter parts of eastern Saskatchewan where there is still some surplus moisture. On the other hand, the wind has delayed weed control.

"One of the challenges is to get the pre-seed burn done," says Clint Jurke, an agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada. "I think a lot of that will happen after the crop has been seeded."

Saskatchewan Agriculture says 22 per cent of the provincial crop had been seeded as of Tuesday, May 15. That compares to only five per cent one week ago. The five-year average for this time of year is approximately 18 per cent seeded.

Here is the seeding progress by region: southwest 42 per cent, southeast 14 per cent, west-central 17 per cent, east-central 12 per cent, northeast 21 per cent and northwest 28 per cent.

Provincially, cropland topsoil moisture is rated as 13 per cent surplus, 85 per cent adequate and two per cent short.

"We are starting to hear some reports of growers who are saying that the top half inch of soil is getting fairly dry already," says Jurke, who covers the western side of the province.

Precipitation during the first part of the Victoria Day long weekend will be welcomed by producers with seed in ground.

In southern Alberta, there were some anxious moments for farmers with early seeded canola. The temperature dropped to as low as minus 8 in a few locations last weekend.

The Canola Council of Canada says it takes three to four days to properly assess damage.

"If one or two plants per square foot have survived and if that stand is fairly consistent throughout the field, the best choice is probably to leave it alone," says Jurke.

Some reseeding may be required, but the damage would have been much worse if the frost had occurred a week later.

"A thin stand is not optimal for yield, but a thin stand in mid-May may have better yield and quality potential than a reseeded field, particularly in southern Alberta."

Management Moment: Insurance Checkup
Are you and your business properly insured? Learn the importance of working with your insurance agent on an ongoing basis.

Watch more FCC learning videos on our multimedia page 

Governments should use financial incentives to get farmers to participate in environmental programs, says the leader of Manitoba's leading farm organization.

Producers must be compensated for environmental practices instead of just being regulated to do them, says Doug Chorney, Keystone Agricultural Producers president.

Chorney says KAP recognizes there are times when regulations are necessary. However, Chorney also told a recent House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development meeting that sometimes environmental regulations, though well intentioned, are introduced without sufficient research and consultation.

"The result is a regulatory environment that stifles industry growth, adds significant costs to farm operation and fails to achieve conservation goals," he said in his presentation.

The committee is conducting a study into a National Conservation Plan announced in last year's Speech from the Throne. The committee has called for ideas from the public on what an NCP should be and what it should do.

Chorney says if farmers are expected to provide society with environmental goods and services, they should be rewarded for it. "An NCP must ensure that this principle of society paying for ecological benefits is a pillar in its program development."

He gives the Alternative Land Use Services, a program originated by KAP that pays producers for sound environmental practices on their farms, as an example. ALUS pilot projects have been conducted in several provinces, including Manitoba.

ALUS is a good example of giving farmers incentives to carry out environmentally friendly practices that benefit all of society, he says. "If done correctly and with adequate funding amounts, this is a very effective program."

The committee voted in January to undertake the study, which began with meetings in Ottawa in March and April. It is holding further public hearings in Vancouver, Calgary and Halifax this month to hear from more people involved in conservation efforts.

Montreal-based pork and poultry processor Olymel L.P. is looking at market conditions in the bacon sector before deciding if it will rebuild its Princeville bacon plant, which was damaged by a fire on May 6.

Olymel management says in a release that, given the size of investment required to rebuild the bacon processing plant in Princeville, it must first conduct an in-depth analysis of market conditions in this sector.

Olymel CEO, Réjean Nadeau, says the bacon market has recently been under considerable pressure, with intense competition in Canada and on foreign markets.

"Lower production costs in the United States have enabled U.S. manufacturers to offer fierce competition for domestic products both in Canada and south of the border," Nadeau says in the release. "The parity of the Canadian dollar with the U.S. currency also has an impact on our exports."

Olymel expects its analysis will enable the company to evaluate the possibility of combining the bacon production previously done at Princeville with other operations.

"We must also consider the possibility of changing the mix of operations at the plant before making a final decision on the fate of our Princeville facility," says Nadeau. "The situation requires a solid long-term business plan, and we will do everything that needs to be done in the coming weeks."

While some of the facilities were spared by the disaster, the extent of the damage is such that a resumption of operations in the short-term is not feasible. The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Olymel has announced the 180 employees affected by the fire that destroyed the bacon plant will be temporarily relocated, on a voluntary basis, to other company-owned facilities. These facilities include its facilities in Drummondville (bacon plant) Trois-Rivières (processing), Vallée-Jonction (hog slaughtering, cutting and deboning), Ste-Rosalie (cutting and processing) and St-Hyacinthe (pork ham deboning).

It's said that everything is food to a black bear, including livestock and humans.

And as farmland, cities and forests grow closer together, in some cases, say farm organizations, black bears are becoming a nuisance -- and in some cases, a danger -- for farmers and others in rural Ontario. A spring hunt that once helped control the population was cancelled more than a decade ago, and now the Ontario Federation of Agriculture wants it back.

The agriculture federation, along with the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, is calling for the hunt to be restored, following news that the province's Ministry of Natural Resources is a cancelling a program in which it trapped and relocated problem bears.

That service had been deemed mostly ineffective (after being relocated, bears often returned to where they were trapped), but still, its cancellation removes one of the few lines of defense for rural Ontario.

"The rising bear population is causing increasing damage to crops and putting human safety at risk," says agriculture federation president Mark Wales. "It's time to bring back the spring bear hunt to responsibly and effectively get the bear population under control."

According to the OFA's figures, the spring hunt generated $6 million-plus in economic activity annually across Northern Ontario. Hungry bears, it says, now impose millions of dollars of loss on those same communities.

"The spring bear hunt offers economic opportunities to northern communities in need, and it takes care of a real need to prevent damage, danger, and expense to rural communities and Ontario farm families," Wales says.

This year's call for a renewed hunt rekindles a fire started seven years ago when a black bear killed a Cambridge doctor camping in northern Ontario. At the time, two groups -- the Northwestern Ontario Sportsmen's Alliance and the Canadian Outdoor Heritage Alliance -- warned that without a spring hunt to help manage the black bear population, such incidents were destined to rise.

One of North America's largest food retailers plans to phase out the use of gestation stalls for pregnant sows in its pork supply chain.

Safeway Inc. says it will eventually eliminate gestation stalls in its breeding facilities, becoming the first major U.S. grocery retailer to make such a commitment.

"It is Safeway's goal to have a gestation stall-free supply chain," says Brian Dowling, vice-president of public affairs. "With that in mind, the company is formulating plans to determine how it can reach that goal."

Safeway made the announcement a few days after Tim Hortons, Canada's largest publicly traded restaurant chain, gave its producers and suppliers until the end of 2012 to develop plans and timelines for phasing out gestation stalls.

Tim Hortons says it also plans to gradually eliminate battery cages for layer hens. It hopes to purchase at least 10 per cent of its eggs from farms using "enriched housing systems" by the end of 2013.

"We believe there are better, more humane and sustainable housing systems that can improve the quality of animals' lives," says Paul House, company president and CEO.

The two announcements, coming so close together, signal a growing movement among North American food retailers away from current housing systems for hogs and layer hens.

Other major North American fast food chains, including McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's, have previously announced plans to move away from gestation stalls.

Currently, 97 per cent of egg-laying hens in North America are housed in battery cages, and 70 per cent of U.S. breeding sows are kept in gestation crates, according to industry estimates.

Humane societies and animal welfare activists have long advocated the elimination of such confinement systems.

The industry is responding. Maple Leaf Foods says it will phase out the use of sow gestation stalls in its hog farms by 2017. Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the U.S., has promised the same.

The Manitoba Pork Council, which represents the province's hog producers, last year announced plans to eliminate sow stalls over the next 15 years.

Canada's recommended industry code of practice for hogs is under review, with an eye on updating guidelines for swine housing, health and nutrition.

But if people want more welfare-friendly systems on farms, they will have to help pay for them, says the Canadian Pork Council.

"If significant changes are determined, we must have the support of many players to implement them. The burden cannot be handled by farmers alone," says Jean-Guy Vincent, CPC president.

Tom Cowan, a field crop entomologist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Agriculture Development Branch in Ridgetown, Ont., reports finding alfalfa weevils causing damage in some alfalfa stands.

"Considering that some alfalfa fields are hurting from frost damage, some produces may consider holding off on the first cut to let the plants build up more reserves in the crown," Cowan wrote in an update in the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association's May Crop-Pest newsletter. "Typically, cutting is a good method of control and is done before weevil populations get too high.

"If the stand needs to be left longer, then monitoring for weevil populations should be done to determine if treatment thresholds are reached prior to cutting, especially in fields with a history of alfalfa weevil damage."

Cowan recommends growers consider applying an insecticide if there is 40 per cent leaf-tip feeding, with two or three active weevils per stem and more than seven to 10 days to the preferred harvest date.

"If you find less than one active larvae per stem, no treatment is needed, but keep monitoring the situation," he wrote. "Action will be required if you find two larvae per stem and the alfalfa is less than 40 centimetres high.

"If you find more than three larvae per stem, immediate action is needed."

For more information, growers can visit:
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/pub812/3weevil.htm.

Cowan wrote there are also some reports of true armyworm catches in Illinois and Pennsylvania, indicating Ontario should be seeing some adults soon, if they are not already here. He recommends growers start scouting for this pest soon considering this spring's weather conditions.

More information on true army worm and scouting techniques can be found at: http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/pub811/13cereal.htm#tarmyworm.

Finally, Cowan recommends growers start scouting for black cutworm as soon as their corn is up.

La Nina has officially ended. All major indicators of ENSO (El Nino/Southern Oscillation) are currently neutral, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Climate models surveyed by the bureau indicate the tropical Pacific Ocean may continue to warm over the next six months, with some, but not all, models approaching or exceeding El Nino thresholds during the second half of this year. No models currently favour a return to La Nina.

El Nino signifies the warming of sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central parts of the Pacific Ocean, particularly along the South American coast. It can cause storms in the Pacific Ocean and reduce the number of storms in the Atlantic.

Last week, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center said the La Nina episode has ended and is unlikely to redevelop this year. CPC also said at least half of its dynamic models predicted El Nino -- associated with increased chances of rain for middle America -- may begin sometime this growing season.

Meteorologist Gail Martell of MartellCropProjections.com says dry conditions in the Canadian Prairies have been resolved as La Nina fades. She says recent rainfall has been about twice the normal amount in central Alberta and Saskatchewan, erasing drought and creating a "large moisture surplus." Martell says soil moisture is highest in Saskatchewan.

"The sudden reversal in the weather -- dry to wet -- suggests La Nina's demise may have been responsible," says Martell. "An active storm track has developed in Western Canada from a suddenly strong jet stream delivering waves of showers."

Meanwhile, the trend to warming coastal waters off the Pacific coast of South and North America tends to result in warmer air temperature over most of Canada. The greatest warming is centred around Manitoba/western Ontario, where a temperature anomaly of up to +3 degrees Celsius (averaged over the last nine El Niño events). Southern Canada also tends to be drier during an El Nino as moisture (the storm track) stays further to the south.

If El Nino were to develop later this summer -- though there is no certainty of that at this time -- given the lateness of its arrival and mild intensity, it doesn't seem likely it will have any dramatic influence on crop output for this year.

Drew Lerner, meteorologist with World Weather Inc. in Overland Park, Kansas said if El Nino arrives it won't drastically change his existing forecast.

"If El Nino comes along, it reinforces our forecast, giving us a little bit of a milder summer. And probably it will perpetuate rainfall," said Lerner. "We expect quite a bit of rain this summer with or without El Nino."

Lerner predicted the El Nino event will develop later in the summer. But, he said it could affect weather patterns sooner. "If we start evolving towards an El Nino, sometimes that has an influence on weather patterns even though we don't have an El Nino officially on the way," he said.

Lerner said it looks like there will be a good balance of rain versus sun and the crop yield should be average, if not above average. "I think for the most part it's going to be a good production year," Lerner said. "I think that the biggest concern would be that too much cloudiness and cool temperatures might promote slower degree day accumulation and therefore slower crop development. So, crop maturation rates could end up being a little late."

Lerner recommended that farmers get their crops in the ground early to ensure they see an improvement from last season's yield. "Last year we were so wet we couldn't put a lot of crop in the ground. A pretty large portion of the eastern Prairies never got planted," Lerner said. "So just from that perspective alone we're going to be far better off because we're going to have probably at least two thirds of that area that didn't get planted last year; planted this year."

The forecast isn't good for everyone, though. Some farmers' fields are still saturated from last season's floods. As a result, producers in those areas may not be able to plant their crop.

"There's still a portion of southeastern Saskatchewan and a few other random areas that are still dealing with surplus moisture. The ground is completely saturated in those areas so we can't percolate the moisture into the soil and it has to be evaporated out," said Lerner. "That means if we keep a fairly high frequency of rainfall in those regions, some of these areas will still be too wet to be planted this year."

Lerner said that if El Nino fully develops, it probably won't be until after the growing season ends on the Canadian Prairies.

Mike Jubinville of Pro Farmer Canada offers information on commodity markets and marketing strategies. Call 204-654-4290 or visit www.pfcanada.com to find out more about his services.