Following the heavy rains and winds from this week's storm, Portage area producer Craig Finnie of Finnie-Wishart Farms weighs in on how deadlines for crop insurance and seeding are affected. 

"It puts quite a bit more pressure on trying to get seeding done, and then that all depends on what happens between now and whenever the deadlines are for different crops," explains Finnie. "I think we still have quite a bit of canola we want to seed, so we're kind of changing our plan from using the air seeder to getting a floater in to broadcast the seed. And then we'll harrow it in, hoping that'll work.  And then get a little bit of moisture after it's harrowed  in to make sure it germinates."

He says these changes of methods are just manners of grappling with unpredictable conditions as best they can. 

"If it did dry up, we could still feed some of the air seeder, but it's a lot quicker if we could just broadcast it and harrow it in," says Finnie. "They say they can do 1,000 acres a day by broadcasting with the floater."

Finnie explains the nature of the deadline. 

"It's to get full crop insurance coverage," notes Finnie. "Then there are a couple of about four-day extensions where they'll only give you about 80 per cent coverage. So, the idea is to try and get it in before the main deadlines, so we can get 100 per cent coverage. Even their coverage is only 80 per cent of our long-term average yield. So, it's good, but it's not 100 per cent coverage."  

Finnie says they base it on the individual long-term average yields. 

With deadlines looming just over the horizon, he outlines how he's proceeding at his farm, explaining it depends on what area in which you're farming. 

"Basically for here around Portage, the deadline for canola is June 15th," continues Finnie. "For edible beans, it's June the 6th, I believe. For wheat, oats and barley it's June 20th. But for soybeans, the deadline has been extended to June the 4th, and it will be very few soybeans seeded between now and then. I wouldn't expect that there would be many seeded, anyway."  

He notes there's still some sufficient time remaining for canola, wheat, oats and barley. 

"It's just depending on what the weather does, or how quick it dries up and how much rain we get," adds Finnie. 

Finnie says this year is more definitely more stressful than previous years. 

"Everything is about two to three weeks later than what is normal," notes Finnie. "If we get the seed in the ground and we've got the right weather, there's lots of moisture there to grow a pretty decent crop."

Finnie says it's just normal farming. 

"Every year is a little bit different," adds Finnie.