Minnesota Farmers

This could be a critical week for Minnesota farmers, who are running late with spring planting due to soggy fields but have a chance to catch up thanks to good weather forecast for the next few days.

Planting progress remains minimal as Minnesota farmers struggle with a soggy spring. In its weekly crop weather report for Minnesota, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday that spring wheat planting inched forward to 3 percent by Sunday. That compares with 96 percent last year at this time, and a five-year average of 41 percent.

Minnesota set record highs for corn and soybean production in 2010. New figures released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wednesday say Minnesota farmers grew an estimated 1.29 billion bushels of corn, up 4 percent from last year's record.

A consumer education campaign on behalf of Minnesota farmers is offering free tickets to Gopher men's basketball games and free groceries from Cub Foods in its latest sweepstakes.