Many fields in Manitoba remain water-logged, after showers through last week and thunderstorms on the weekend passed through the province.

Manitoba Agriculture's weekly crop report says strong winds and hail rolled through several areas of the province, causing light to severe crop damage, with assessments on going. However, it wasn't solely hail pelts and wind gusts that wreaked havoc on crops, as the rainfall on its own has been drowning out parts of fields.

"(Crops) are showing those symptoms of excess moisture stress," says Manitoba Agriculture cereal specialist Pam de Rocquigny, "that includes yellowing of the crop, slowed crop development in those areas that are impacted, and then we're also seeing, of course, crop death in those areas that are most severely impacted in terms of, say, the lower areas of the fields, those types of things, where there's been water lying for a little while."

According to the crop report, areas between St. Claude and Treherne received up to 100 mm of rain last week, while northeastern parts of the province accumulated upwards of 140 mm.

Andy Baker farms in the Beausejour area, and he says for miles in his area there are fields with sections drowned out.

"In the depressions (of the fields), yeah, there's a fair bit of absolutely, completely drowned out (crop), and then, of course, that just tapers off as you get higher up in the field," he says.

Up until this point, the rainfall was quite variable in Baker's area, but now he says there's standing water in pretty much every field. Baker says he wants to start applying fungicide on his canola crops, but the fields are too wet for equipment.

"We may well end up cutting ruts (in the field). There's just no getting around it."

The crop report indicates many producers in the province feel the same way. De Rocquigny says some producers are turning to aerial fungicide applications, rather than trudging equipment through soggy fields.

"Unfortunately in some areas as well, producers are at that point where they're assessing their plant stands, they're assessing their yield potentials for some of the most severely impacted fields," she says. "For some of them that there was a planned fungicide application, they're opting not to actually apply a fungicide because it's just not penciling out in terms of... having a return on their investment."

De Rocquigny says the silver lining is that not all areas of the province are facing such severe excess moisture concerns. The crop report shows areas in the Interlake and central regions of Manitoba saw as little as five to 10 mm of rain.

"We're seeing such a wide variability this year," she says, "in those areas (less affected by excess moisture), they're actually seeing the crops are looking good, you know, and they're rated anywhere from good to... excellent condition."

Both de Rocquigny and Baker say the solution to the water woes at the moment would be a stretch of good, warm, dry weather. Baker says winter wheat in his area is ahead of where it was last year, and canola crops are well into flowering. He says a couple weeks without rain would be ideal for crops to dry out and have a chance to recover.