Farmers who didn’t get around to doing a soil test this fall should probably pencil it in for next spring.

Rachel Evans is an Agronomist with the Flax Council of Canada. 

She says a study done by AgVise, a soil testing lab in North Dakota is showing higher nitrogen levels in the soil following a drought than you might think.

"If you've got a crop that is hit hard by drought it means it's growing less, and it's using fewer nutrients and so there is going to be more of what you left, what you put in the ground in spring, maybe hanging around there."

She notes when it comes to growing the best possible flax crop, producers may want to look at the newer flax genetics like CDC Glas that is now available and has performed well throughout Saskatchewan.

"CBC Glas, that's one of our newer varieties," she said. "It's performing really well in all of our crop areas in Saskatchewan, and so much so, that our researchers have a lot of confidence in it and at 2017 Prairie recommending committee for oil seeds meeting, we voted to change our yield check to CBC Glas from Bethune."

She says CDC Glas will be phased in as the new check variety in the next couple of years, noting she see’s that as a show of confidence in that variety and its performance.