Farmers here in the southeast have taken advantage of good conditions over the past week to get a solid start on spring seeding. Earl Bargen, provincial Farm Production Advisor in Steinbach, got an update yesterday from a number of farmers and colleagues throughout the region.

"A lot of corn and wheat acres went in. The general consensus is about 30-35% seeded and that would be mostly corn and wheat. In some areas as well there is some canola going in and

Kevin Peters checks monitors as he plants cornguys are getting started on some other spring cereals, canola and even a bit of soybeans. I think, if the weather holds, everyone is going to have another good week and we're going to see a lot more acres in by this time next week."

He adds soil temperatures have come up to between eight and ten degrees which should make for very good germination.

"The best soil conditions for corn are warm and moist. Those are the conditions that will really help to get that warm moisture into the seeds and get those seeds germinating as uniformly as possible and as quickly as possible."

Meanwhile, he says it appears a large part of the winter wheat crop will be written off due to frost damage.

"I've got estimates of anywhere from 75-95% of the crop this year being written off. It remains to be seen if any are kept but it sounds like the vast majority will be re-seeded, written off, torn up and re-seeded. That's really unfortunate because farmers are looking to spread out their workload and get some acres in the ground in the fall. Guys have had pretty good luck with it in the past but not every year is a success for that stuff and that's just part of the product of the climate we live in."