Central Alberta farmers should be more than half way through their spring seeding, based on the latest crop report from Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development.
The provincial department said Friday that as of Tuesday, approximately 46 per cent of crops had been seeded in this region. That compared with just one per cent two weeks earlier.
However, the completion rate was still well behind the five-year average for this time of year, which is 63 per cent.
Provincewide, seeding was about 47 per cent complete as of Tuesday, up from around two per cent two weeks ago. Farmers in the Peace Region were the farthest advanced, at close to 55 per cent complete, followed by the northwest region (51 per cent), the northeast region (47 per cent), the central region and the southern region (45 per cent).
Most areas of the province have received some precipitation during the last two weeks, with surface soil moisture rated as good or excellent for 93 per cent of the area.
In Central Alberta, 91 per cent came in as having good or excellent surface soil moisture. Pasture conditions and tame hay growth across Alberta were reported as fair in 24 per cent of the area, good in 64 per cent and excellent in 11 per cent.
In Central Alberta, 30 per cent of the area was fair, 64 per cent good and three per cent excellent.