With harvest wrapping up earlier this year, some farmers have started with fall fertilizer.

Manitoba Agriculture Soil Fertility Specialist John Heard says farmers are taking a risk if they apply fertilizer too early.

"The risk is that when we put nitrogen down into warm soil it can convert to the nitrate form, which is fine, as long as it doesn't get wet. But if it should get wet like we were wet last year or wet in the spring, that's when that nitrate form tends to be lost."

He notes some farmers are trying to get a jump on fall field work and fertilizer to avoid what happened last year with the poor field conditions.