It could be a very busy weekend for local farmers..

According to the latest crop report, only one per cent of spring seeding is complete in the northeast and east central parts of the province. Provincially five per cent of the 2011 crop is seeded.

"Some areas reported rain anywhere up to 20 (millimeters), so the topsoil moisture is still pretty wet, they're indicating about 61 per cent is still in a surplus condition, so it's very challenging for the producers," explained Saskatchewan Agriculture's Grant Maclean.

Farmers continue to play the waiting game, this week, in hopes to see drier pastures.

It has been next to impossible for them to begin spring seeding due to fields being just too wet.

Farmworld's Tex Prete says farmers in Melfort and the Kinistino area are being patient.

Things are drying up around Saskatchewan, and although there are still pools of water on some farmer’s fields, that extra moisture can actually serve as a benefit later on in the summer.

Right now conditions are still fairly wet for some to get on their fields and start seeding. The latest provincial crop report outlines how seeding is just over a quarter finished in the province. That’s behind the five-year average.

Saskatoon researchers may have found a way to save Canadian farmers millions of dollars.

Scientists at the Saskatoon Research Centre have developed the first crucifer flea beetle-resistant strand of canola.

“The flea beetle is the worst insect pest of canola,” said Margret Gruber with Agriculture and Agi-Food Canada.

Hoping to improve the quality of Canadian wheat, the federal and provincial governments have partnered with the University of Saskatchewan and created the Canadian Wheat Alliance (CWA).

“Wheat has been king in Western Canada for a number of years, now it’s more than a rotational crop as people look to wheat as a good return on their investment,” said federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz.

This spring is going to be a little less green for some customers of Shand Greenhouse in Estevan.

The company, a subsidiary of SaskPower, made a shipment of seedlings to customers in the RM of Prince Albert. Some of the trees ended up in the wrong hands.

The seedlings were supposed to be dropped off at the municipal shop and picked up by customers, but some were taken without permission from people who did not place an order.

Soaking farmland is still pushing back the growing season in Saskatchewan.

The snow and rain last week took a toll on the melt. Now a little less than half of Saskatchewan's cropland -- 40 per cent -- is still too wet to be able to do anything with it.

So farmers are calving, cleaning seed, and prepping machinery -- doing everything they can to get ready for seeding.

In some cases, farmers are already three weeks behind when they would normally have started.

They have been growing trees for prairie farmers for 111 years but time is running out for the Indian Head Tree Nursery and Shelterbelt Program.

The federal government decision to cut funding to the program in this year’s budget and sell it to the private sector sparked an outcry from agriculture groups across the prairies. They formed the Western Canada Tree Nursery Coalition aiming to keep the program in public hands.

Saskatchewan cattle ranchers are paying close attention to a key deadline in Canada-U.S. trade relations.

The Americans were given until May 23 to bring their system of Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) into compliance with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules prohibiting discrimination against imported products.

COOL was implemented in 2008. It requires any cut of meat from an imported animal to bear a label indicating where it came from before it can be sold in an American grocery store.

Honey bee populations have seen a fairly high mortality rate in Saskatchewan in the past five years.

Geoff Wilson, provincial specialist in apiculture -- or beekeeping -- said that an average of 23 percent mortality has plagued many beekeepers in the province over the term.

This year, anywhere from five to 90 percent of honey bee populations have faced mortality from reports coming into Wilson.

The extended winter weather has not helped either, according to Wilson.