Seeding slightly ahead of five-year average thanks to good weather

Favourable weather is helping out Saskatchewan farmers, as seeding is 80 per cent complete this week.

That’s up from 51 per cent last week, and slightly above the five-year average of 78 per cent at this time of year.

Crops have started to emerge in many areas of the province.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the southwest is the farthest along with 92 per cent of the crop in. There is 84 per cent seeded in the southeast, 80 per cent in the west-central, 75 per cent in the northwest, 73 per cent in the northeast, and 69 per cent in the east-central.

Many parts of the province received some rainfall this week, with western regions receiving the most. The Cando area received the highest amount of rain this week with 100 millimetres.

While the rain delayed seeding for some farmers in the west-central and northwest regions, Saskatchewan Agriculture says the moisture was welcome to help support crop and pasture growth.

Windy conditions throughout the province have continued to dry the topsoil, but rain helped maintain moisture conditions.