The start of the growing season has everyone feeling a little more optimistic.

Agriculture Minister David Marit says snow melt and runoff helped pasture conditions, and there's enough decent soil moisture to get the crop up and growing.

"There are pockets where you know, they need rain now and it's a little drier. We never lose a crop in May or June. When it's July, we'll worry about it and hopefully Mother Nature will respond and give us some nice rain in July and we'll have a bumper crop. Last year, we bounced back pretty good with over 35 million metric tons. I'd sure like to see us hit that, you know, or well over 40 million metric tons."

Marit says he's hearing from people around the province that conditions are looking pretty good.

" A lot of the dugouts are filled in the southwest that didn't have any water in them last year. I was more concerned about water for the livestock sector in many parts of the province than I was grass. We saw a very significant runoff in the southern part of the province where the dugouts are full. I know down in my part of the world the dugouts are full, and the ranchers are very happy. There's going to be a good start to the pastures which is also good to see."

Marit visited a farm near Regina on Thursday to kick off the first Crop Report of the season and to thank individuals that volunteer and provide the key information for the report throughout the growing season.

During the event, he also took time to remind producers to keep safety in mind in the field, on the farm, and on the road and asks everyone to be extra cautious on the roads with the large farm equipment moving from one field to another.