SEEDING has kicked off in Weestern Australia for the 2008 winter cropping season with Lake Grace grower, Grant Marshall, planting 130ha of canola last week.
Mr Marshall says good early season rainfall gave him a prime opportunity to plant some long season canola varieties.
He sowed Bravo and Tornado canola but says it's too soon to start planting short season varieties.
After receiving only 13mm from January to March this year, Lake Grace got 50.8mm in the first 11 days of this month.
The season is off to a bustling start with more showers and thunderstorms predicted for the week ahead.
The early rain compares with the 42.2mm Lake Grace had for all of April last year, which was then followed by a disappointing 14.4mm in May.
"We had plenty of rain early last week and it gave us an excellent opportunity to get the canola in the ground while we could," Mr Marshall says.
* Source: Farm Weekly, WA's leading farming publication.