With it seeming like winter is finally over in southeast Saskatchewan, knock on wood, many producers are looking to get ready to be out in the field seeding the 2023 crop. The amount of snow we have received this winter, though, means things could be a bit delayed. 

Garnet Hansen farms south of Weyburn. He took a look at his fields earlier this week to judge how the melt was progressing. 

“The snow certainly is disappearing, and there is water appearing where the snow was just a few days ago,” Hansen described. “There’s some years where there’s hardly any snowfall – you could be in the fields, you know, in a week or so from now but I would think solidly we’re more looking like the 1st of May-ish to really be doing anything.” 

Of course, the estimate for getting into the field, which would be a later start than average, is weather dependent. Southeast Saskatchewan has been known to get some rather significant snowfalls in April and May some years.  

As for the moisture conditions of the soil, Hansen explained that the snowpack does help a little, 

“I would say that snow will give you some runoff and that’s always positive, but it doesn’t always give you enough moisture to carry your crops – you're always looking for rain for that,” he pointed out. The snow cover over the winter has been a positive for many producers, but it doesn’t put too much moisture into the soil profile. 

Once the crop is in the ground, more moisture will be needed. 

“We’ll be looking for rain at some point, probably before mid-May to the end of May, just to make sure we got enough to get things going and growing well.” 

The melt will likely be helped along with daytime temperatures remaining above freezing through the weekend, but there is the possibility of some snow showers over the next few days as well. Depending on the amount of precipitation received, it could see the spring seeding season delayed a few days more.