Farmers are busy finalizing their cropping plans, which means it's time to be thinking about seeding rates.

Shannon Chant is a regional crop specialist for Saskatchewan's Ministry of Agriculture, and she says a key factor in calculating your seeding rate is knowing your target plant populations.

Chant says for most cereals, this would be around 20 to 24 plants per square foot, while canola would be at seven to 10 plants per square foot.

To determine the seeding rate in pounds per acre, take the target plant population, and multiply by the thousand kernel weight in grams, then divide by your expected seedling survival percentage, and multiply by 10.