Latest Snowmelt Will 'Help Kickstart The Crop'

Apr 15, 2021

With snow blanketing much of the Prairies this week, farmers are now waiting to see how much of that moisture will soak into the fields.

Anne Kirk is a cereal specialist with Manitoba Agriculture & Resource Development.

"The snowfall is definitely a huge blessing for people. Anyone that got snow, I think it was very welcome because soil conditions were fairly dry prior to the snowfall. It really just depends on where you are located. Anywhere from say 25-30 cm down to 7 cm is what I've heard. In general, it's a 10 to 1 ratio so people that got 25 cm of snow that would be about an inch of water."

Kirk says the only downfall of the snow is that some of it may have blown off the field.

Winter wheat will also benefit from the moisture, according to Alex Griffiths with Ducks Unlimited.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.