The owner of Marc Hutlet Seeds at Ste. Anne says a week of sunshine and producers might be all but ready to start seeding in the southeast.

"We've had a couple of guys make jokes that they are going to maybe seed by the weekend," says Marc Hutlet. "I don't know if they were just pulling my leg or serious."

However, he says there are definitely some areas that if it does not rain at all this week, could be good to go by week's end.

"Realistically, if the sun stays out for a week, I think we'd all be surprised what would happen," adds Hutlet, noting things are trending towards an early start to seeding.

Hutlet says spring is usually a very optimistic time for producers. He notes some of that is dictated by commodity prices, which he says were pretty good last fall.

Coming out of winter, Hutlet says there will definitely be damage in some of the lower-lying areas to both the alfalfa and winter wheat. He notes crops will be damaged in some places where the spring melt pooled and then froze.

"But we're not sure that it's as bad as we all thought at the beginning," admits Hutlet. "I'm staring at a field of winter wheat across from our office and it has greened up and it doesn't look bad actually."

Hutlet says this week they will be taking a close look at the alfalfa fields to see what kind of growth is coming from those plants and how many are still dormant. 

Meanwhile, Hutlet says much of the southeast received over an inch of rain last week. And, with the rain last fall, he notes fields have enough moisture.

"In a lot of places in western Canada, it's not the best," says Hutlet. "But right over here, in the immediate southeast Manitoba, it's time for it to dry out, and let's get rocking."

According to Hutlet, it appears as though southeastern Manitoba should see just as many corn acres as in 2023. He notes the only thing that could change that would be a delay in seeding. As for soybeans, Hutlet expects that too will be similar to 2023. Hutlet says provincially, it was a great year for soybeans last year.