Bullish Seeding Progress Reports

VANCOUVER - May 26/11 - SNS -- Seeding progress reports for the United States and Canada are increasingly viewed as bullish by markets because farmers are expected to soon switch their focus from pulses to crops which are less risky to seed at the end of May and early June.

While parts of Saskatchewan made excellent progress seeding crops last week, seeding is less than 55% complete in almost half the province, including some important pea and lentil areas in south eastern Saskatchewan.

Overall, farmers in that province have planted 54% of this year's intended area, according to Saskatchewan Agriculture's Weekly Crop Report, about the same as last year, but well below the recent five-year average of 72% complete by the end of the third week in May.

"Significant seeding progress was made in western and northern regions during the past week. Producers in the eastern and southern regions were able to get into the fields for a few days," the provincial agriculture department said.

"However, recent rainfall has challenged seeding operations in some areas. The southeast is reporting 24% seeded, the southwest 55%, the east-central 43%, the west-central 74%, the northeast 62% and the northwest 79%."