Some fieldwork is underway across southern Ontario but bouts of heavy rain over the past couple of weeks is no doubt making conditions difficult for producers.
As the map here shows, a large swath of area east and north of Toronto has seen up to 110 mm of rain (more than 4 inches) so far in April, with some smaller pockets recording amounts even higher than that.
In the April 10 edition of his crop hotline, Real Agriculture agronomist Peter Johnson said producers are applying nitrogen to winter wheat crops, spreading manure, with some alfalfa also going in. And while he noted conditions in the province are not nearly as wet as they are in parts of Europe, he cautioned producers to ensure the ground is fit to avoid compaction issues.
Still, the rain may be welcome in some locations. The latest monthly update of the Canadian drought monitor showed a significant area of abnormally dry conditions across the northern parts of the province and encompassing the Ottawa area. There were also three separate areas of abnormally dry conditions in the southwest, including from about Chatham to Windsor in the west, the Niagara peninsula, and north of Listowel toward Chatsworth.
