Southern Alberta is the only part of the province seeing any action out on the fields right now. Garry Brook, Crop Specialist with the Ag Info Center says the south usually warms up first so they're usually first out.  He says it's not unusual to be out this early, and it's maybe a week early at the most.  

Brook says it's very important to check your soil temperatures.  "If you're seeding into cold soil, it takes far longer for that seed to actually imbibe moisture and germinate. And the longer it sits in the soil either doing nothing, or very slowly growing, the more opportunity there is for soil fungus and soil born diseases to affect that plant and affect it from actually establishing a crop," he explains. "When temperatures are at least at 5 degrees you should get fairly rapid germination."  

Brook says as long as the conditions are good, its not a bad idea to start seeding. "See the thing is, the research has long been established that all conditions being equal, early seeding provides you a greater yield opportunity than later seeding."

On the marketing end of things, Brooks says it might not be a bad idea to start thinking about pricing.  "If producers can lock in a profitable price for harvest right now, especially in terms of canola, its not a bad idea to do some pre-pricing to reduce your price risk, because they are very attractive levels right now for fall delivery right off the combine."