Farm producers are doing their best to prepare for the upcoming season and part of that is watching just how much snow will stick around until spring.

Moisture levels were average or above average during harvest last year in the southeast, especially compared to other regions, but more is likely to be needed once the ground thaws.

That, along with replenishing groundwater sloughs for ranchers, means that snowpack is a key component of 2023 for agriculture.

Agrologist Edgar Hammermeister says we've been fortunate to get a good amount of snow which should help out.

"The snow that has accumulated will, for the most part, runoff depending on the way our melt happens. But, again, mostly that will run off and to the benefit of the cattlemen, refilling the watering holes and getting some water back into sloughs just for the bigger picture of agriculture and the wildlife.

With some above-zero temperatures in February and melt occurring, some might be worried about seeing snowpacks shrink over the course of the month.

But Hammermeister says that those pockets of snow will still have a similar moisture content once the real melt rolls around.

"What happened in the period really, our snowpack shrank in size. So when the first snow came, it was fluffy, and it had air content, but when we had the warm spell the snow was melting but was basically getting more and more dense. But for the most part, the soil underneath, right at the surface, was still frozen."

Overall the spring is shaping up well for farmers and could be even better with Environment Canada's prediction pointing to a cooler spring.

"A slower melt, like with cooler conditions a slower melt means more opportunity for the moisture to sink into the soil rather than running off in a fast melt," said Hammermeister, "So that would be beneficial to us, having a slow melt.