Heavy rains have led to very challenging planting conditions for Manitoba farmers.

Manitoba Agriculture’s Dane Froese says spring seeding is way behind normal.

“We had rain showers Thursday evening into Friday last week, bringing substantial amounts of rain ranging from 30-70mm in many cases washing out gravel roads, back roads in the Parkland area.” Froese said.

But Froese says some crops are in the ground, mostly in the Roblin and Swan River Valley area. Less than 5 percent of spring wheat and 5 percent of peas have been planted in northwestern Manitoba.

Seeding progress in Manitoba sits at about 4 percent completion, well behind the 5-year average of 50 percent for this time of year.

Froese notes flood alerts have been declared in communities along the Little Saskatchewan River.