Weather sows seeds of despair - Winnipeg Free Press

A cold and wet spring has Manitoba farmers watching over fields of streams that have delayed the seeding season and threaten the fall harvest.

Typically, farmers begin seeding their land in the last week of April or first week of May but poor weather -- including snow two weeks ago that took three days to melt in parts of the province -- has put them way behind schedule. It has reached the point where many farmers are considering abandoning their traditional crops such as corn and soy beans in favour of faster-growing ones, such as barley and flax, said Don Dewar,

"People are starting to question global warming. The land just isn't drying up. The soil is cold and the crops that are seeded are very slow growing. I seeded some canola in the first week of May that should have the ground covered by now and you can barely see the roses of the crop. The ground should be covered with plants," he said.
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A late start to the growing season significantly increases the risk of crops freezing in the fall before they've reached maturity for harvest and it also impacts farmers' income. The rule of thumb is one per cent yield is lost for every day of seeding delays.