With another week of warm, sunny weather, Weyburn district farmers were able to make significant progress in seeding, and are starting to deal with early insect problems in some areas.

Seeding in the Weyburn area is about 85 to 90 per cent complete, which is close to the provincial total of 91 per cent of seeding complete. While farmers started out behind the long-term average, they were able to catch up to the five-year average of completion.

Within the Weyburn district, and even within some farms, the progress is variable, with some farmers finished seeding and others who still have a fair amount of work to do, said extension agrologist Elaine Moats.

The hot, dry winds of the past week have helped many fields to dry out, and with the prevalence of soil conservation measures in place, there was a lot less soil blowing around than there would have been two decades ago, said Moats.

"Overall people are enjoying really good seeding conditions this spring compared to the last couple of years. It's a lot better to have moisture to contend with," she said.

One farmer who is all done his seeding for the year, David Pattyson of Tribune, said the seeding conditions were about the best he's ever seen.

"With the snowfall and rain, the moisture is pretty well perfect. Unfortunately some of the hot, windy weather has kind of dried out the top of the ground," he said.

He seeded spring wheat, durum, flax and canola, and has already had to spray the canola as grasshoppers and flea beetles have begun to do some damage to his emerging crops.

"With the warm weather crops have been emerging pretty good. Over the next week or two, if we get good growing conditions the insects won't be an issue. If growing conditions are good, the plants can stay ahead of the grasshoppers so hopefully they won't be too bad of an issue," said Pattyson.

Another good omen for the new crop year was that weed growth began before he was able to get into the fields, so when he got out for field preparation he was able to do a high amount of weed-killing prior to seeding.

West of Weyburn near Trossachs, farmer Norm Flaten has found himself a little further behind than some of his neighbours.

He said most people in his area are done or almost done, but he's about 40 per cent done, as some of his land hasn't drained well, and he also had some harvesting left to do from last fall.

"The surface soil moisture is quite variable. A lot of it has been quite dry until the shower on Monday night, and even that was variable," said Flaten, noting some of his land south of Weyburn received two-tenths of an inch on Monday night, but the farm at Trossachs only had a trace of moisture.

His crops this year includes durum, spring wheat, barley, along with some canola and brown mustard. Flaten suggested a challenge for some grain producers will not only be grasshoppers, which he has seen hatching along roadsides and on field borders, but feed grain prices may suffer. As the U.S. border continues to be closed due to the concerns over the so-called Mad Cow disease, cattle producers may find it difficult to afford feed barley or oats.

Moats said some farmers reported problems with crusting on the surface of their fields caused by the hot, dry winds, and this in turn has made it difficult for some crops to emerge properly. Overall, she added, crop emergence has been quite good in this area.

Along with the weekly rainfall summary in Sask. Ag and Food's weekly crop report, for the week ending May 31, the cumulative rainfall for the year-to-date was included, and much of crop district 2A around Weyburn has received between 100 and 150 millimetres of rain so far this year, with some small patches receiving just below that.

The RM of Tecumseh recorded 12mm for a total of 125mm; the RM of Cymri had 4mm for a total so far of 119mm; Griffin had no rain this week, with a total of 88mm recorded so far; Weyburn had 7mm of rain for a total of 107mm; Brokenshell and Fillmore RMs had 1mm each, for a total of 117mm and 134mm respectively; the RM of Caledonia only recorded a trace, for a total of 106mm; the RM of Francis had 14mm for a total this year of 148mm; Lake Alma and Surprise Valley each had a trace, for a total of 119 and 155mm respectively; Laurier recorded 1mm (no total given) and The Gap had 5mm for a total of 187mm.