The continued cool, wet weather is slowing the development of some crops but is benefiting others. That's the assessment of Earl Bargen, the Manitoba Farm Production Specialist in Steinbach, after looking at crops Monday and talking to various producers.

"The warmer season crops like corn and soybeans, if we would have had two weeks of nice weather after some rain, the staging would be further along. But some of the cooler season crops, I've been hearing reports that canola is actually in very good condition and some of the earlier stuff is starting to flower. Wheat is coming along. It's at a lot of different stages. I saw

A canola field near Steinbach that is starting to flower.some stuff that was heading and some stuff that is still in the stem elongation stage with the flag leaf out."

Bargen says producers report very little in the way of disease in their wheat crops which is attributed to the cool weather.

"One of the comments I got from one of the guys I check in with every week is, they're not seeing a ton of disease in the wheat. That's a good thing, that's a rare thing."

He notes there is quite a bit of unevenness in crops which a week or two of warmer weather will quickly fix. Bargen says farmers would like Mother Nature to turn off the tap for a bit and bring on the heat.

"I got that comment a few times Monday morning, that (heat) is going to make things jump. There's unevenness in crops. One wheat field I was in, there's stuff heading and there's stuff that's pretty little and I think we just need some warmth to get everything growing quickly and then things will even out."