Corn planting could get underway in Manitoba as early as next week.

That from Morgan Cott, agronomist with the Manitoba Corn Growers Association.

"The biggest concern I think is them [farmers] being able to get out on the field and hope that the seed will germinate and come out of the ground in good time," she said. "The greatest concern would be planting too early and the seed sitting for too long and that seed treatment wearing off basically or germinating and then getting a little bit of cold stress with the cold evenings or the fluctuation in daily temperatures."

Cott had some advice for planting corn.

"Try to plant 1.5 to 1.75 inches deep. Some try to go a little bit deeper when it's really dry but we don't want to push it too much. Two inches, in my opinion, is a little bit too deep. Populations are obviously always increasing a little bit, but that's for the producer to learn what works best on that field and that soil that he's planting into. [For] spacing, try to keep those plants five to seven inches apart, depending on your population."

Cott says there seems to be good soil moisture available for planting, although she's not sure how far down it goes.

In her opinion, we could use some more spring rains.