We're not there yet, but it won't be long until we see work in the fields is progressing.

The Director of Ag Services for Vulcan County, Kelly Malmberg says it's also the time of year where pests start to re-appear.

"The three biggest pests that I'm concerned within the area are gophers, grasshoppers and flea beetles in canola, spring emergence on canola was really rough last year so hopefully we get a break on all three," he says.

"Grasshoppers are really starting to increase in numbers as you head north and the good old gophers, we lost the strychnine from Health Canada so those are the three pests I'd be worried about this year."

He says grasshoppers are cyclical and will build up in certain areas and south of Vulcan, Champion and Carmangay have been really bad, and they start to move north when they're over-populated and they're starting to move north.

They also don't like cold, moist conditions so, Malmberg says that may have an effect when the eggs hatch.

"The flea beetles, I don't know if it's the seed treatment or what but the numbers on the flea beetles on canola has just been astronomical the last few years so if you looked in your garden, they completely defoliated any plants, so I'm kind of worried they're going to be bad this year," Malmberg says.

He says gophers like hot dry weather, so he expects they had pretty good numbers when they went into the winter.