Temperatures are still well below normal in southeastern Manitoba. But the owner of Seine River Seed Farm near Ste. Anne says it is too early for producers to be changing their seeding intentions.

Daytime highs this week are expected to fluctuate from about +1 to +4 degrees. That is considerably cooler than the normal high for this time of year which is 10 degrees Celsius.

Brian Dueck says the mood of producers is still optimistic. He senses they may be a little anxious but says that can turn very quickly with seven to ten days of sunshine. And he says if we get to the beginning of May and they still are not able to work their land, then it might be time to reconsider what to seed this spring. Dueck notes in southeastern Manitoba, the second week of May is considered a late start for seeding.

So just how close are we to seeing the first seeders hit the fields in the Steinbach area? Dueck says that depends entirely on the temperature.

"If it does warm up, it wouldn't take long," suggests Dueck. "The fields are bare enough that the soil temperature would rise fairly quickly and we could get going."

Meanwhile, Dueck says he expects the winter wheat crops in the southeast survived the winter. Though he hasn't assessed any plants, Dueck says he uses soil temperature probes which suggest the temperature has remained within the range needed to survive.

"I'm very optimistic so far that it will," he says.

And though it has been a bad year for soil drifting in the southeast, Dueck says that shouldn't impact winter wheat crops.

"I wouldn't say soil drifting would be tough on the winter wheat crop," he says. "The growing point is at ground level, it's not the physical plant that you can see above ground."

Dueck says the soil drifting will result in some ditches needing to be cleaned out. But he refers to it as a minor inconvenience, not a major one.