MacGregor area farmer says "So far so good"

Curtis Sims is owner of Emeline Farms Limited and farms with his wife and son near MacGregor. With rain and strong winds, and a bit of dryness, this year's work has gone good so far. 

"We had a few frost boils at first, but it got going quite well. A lot of the a good part of the crop is in. Most folks have made made pretty good progress and so now we get a little intermission. And the really nice part about it is that we went from what was a drought into just a real nice moisture condition. You feel better about your world and it looks like the crop should come up. Even with the rain, it's going to slow us down for four or five days, but by the calendar, we're still in pretty good shape; about in the middle. It's so much better. To have the water, the better conditions, and some heat, the crop will come up real strong." 

He notes he plants wheat and canola as the usual western farm does. With both soybeans and corn, as well, he says some people think he's confused and appears as though he thinks they're in Iowa. 

Sims outlines the long-term forecast on which he always keeps a watchful eye.

"It calls for a dry summer, but don't go looking for trouble too hard. We're in pretty good shape now. The subsoils are a little low, so we're going to need a good rationed amount along the rest of the year. The other alternatives that we've had other years is greatly excessive rain, leaving things wet and we're struggling, and we haven't turned a wheel yet. In those years there were ponds everywhere and the ducks were swimming. So, we're at the opposite end of that this spring. It's settled in just pretty good."

He explains last year was extremely bringing wind and causing parts of the land to be quite sandy. He notes this leads to reduced tillage, and in some cases, zero tillage. 

"But still, there's always those sandy spots that threaten to break loose on you. That's always a little bit of a strain, and it's not over yet. We had a strong wind the other day, but at least we've had enough moisture to try and settle it a bit. It also gets the crop up faster if we get a little heat with this moisture, and it should really move."