Seeding in the southeast is wrapping up on a rather good note despite a lack of moisture.
Alvina Dyck with Richardson Pioneer, says farmers are 98 per cent done seeding now.
"I say 98 because it's hard to say 'everybody's completely done,'" she says. "But, we're finishing up the last little bit of it."
That would include soybeans, canola, some forage crops and a few others along those lines, she says.
The season went by relatively uninterrupted, she says, with a stretch of good weather pushing activities along. She adds some areas were able to finish up a little faster than others.
"North of the number one got seeded just a little bit earlier, and I think we're just sort of wrapping up a little bit further south now in the Steinbach area," Dyck says.
She says dry weather didn't pose too much of a challenge for farmers this year, except that they had to be careful.
"The bigger concern would be once it has some emergence, that it gets sandblasted off from moving soil. I don't know that really happened a whole lot, but those were difficulties," she says.
Emergence is already being seen, particularly north of Steinbach, Dyck says, where the first pass is completed for corn.
In the south, first pass is just being started into.
"Probably by the end of next week we'll be hitting cereal crops, and then going on from there," Dyck says.
This year, corn acres went in really well she says, and wheat and cereal acres are likely up a little from other years, as well as soybeans.
Canola, on the other hand, looks to be down.
Overall, she says farmers seem to be feeling optimistic with how the season has gone.
"They've had a really great seeding year, and that always feels good to get that done," Dyck says. But, there is also a sense of urgency.
"They are concerned (and) know that they will need moisture shortly. The rain we had was timely, but they're going to be looking for moisture in the week ahead, or two," she says.
Written with files from Kenton Dyck