Farmers in the Weyburn area are slightly behind the provincial seeding average because of recent precipitation, says agricultural economist Terry Karwandy of Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food.

Up to May 14, 32 per cent of farmland in the Weyburn area had been seeded. Overall, Saskatchewan farmers have seeded 46 per cent of their crops, which is up 18 per cent from last week.

Southwestern Saskatchewan leads the way with completion rates of 70-80 per cent, while areas in southeastern Saskatchewan lag behind, having seeded about 30 per cent of their crops.

Karwandy said there were some concerns caused by six hours of heavy frost north of Weyburn which may have caused damage to emerging pulse crops.

"The damage is more likely because of the frost than the snow fall," said Karwandy.

There was also a small amount of winter kill of fall rye and winter wheat reported in this district. Karwandy confirmed 11 per cent of winter wheat and eight per cent of fall rye was affected, and that this was a low figure when compared to past years.

The RM of Weyburn saw the largest amount of precipitation in this crop district this past week with 55 mm of combined rain and snow.

The recent weather has improved the moisture conditions for both crop land and hay and pasture land, which are now considered in good condition.

With adequate moisture now in the soil, farmers need warmer weather to help their seeded crops emerge and dry fields enough for seeding activities to resume. But with warm weather comes another problem.

"While moisture is good for crops, it is also good for weeds," said Karwandy.