Around one in every four acres of Manitoba farmland went unseeded this year, according to Seeded Acreage Reports filed with Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation.

"Our reports are for the most part keyed, and it looks like there will be 2.9 million acres unseeded in Manitoba in 2011," says David van Deynes, Manager of Claims Services with MASC. "Previously, 2005 was our worst year for unseeded acres and there were about 1.4 million acres that year, so this is significantly more."

He says the majority of the acres are in the southwest.

"Right across western Manitoba there is significant acreage, and some pockets, but certainly the southwest was the hardest hit."

He says MASC will be paying out between $150 and $160 million for unseeded acreage claims. About half of the cheques have already been mailed to producers, with the rest expected to go out over the next two or three weeks.