While snow and winter aren't usually the best growing conditions for crops, they can still be a big help with certain varieties.

With snowfall expected to hit this weekend, that should provide cover for winter wheat, which is well-timed considering the dip in temperatures forecasted for next week.

Edgar Hammermeister, an Agrologist with Western Canadian Agronomy Professionals, explains what those plants are looking for.

"Through this time of year, what those crops are doing is hardening off. As the crop likes to see a slow trend of getting colder, and the hardening off is a process that really protects it from the cold that would be happening in mid-winter," said Hammermeister, "Once the ground is frozen, then things are essentially shut down for the growing season."

Now that many of the winter wheat plants have hardened up, the next step is to have them covered and insulated in snow.

"Our bigger concern, though, really, is if it gets cold and there's no snow, no insulation to protect the wheat," said Hammermeister, "That's where it'd be getting most vulnerable."

While more snow means more moisture, which is always a good thing for farmland that's coming out of drought such as much of Saskatchewan, Hammermeister says that when the snow falls is also an important factor.

"I don't really put much focus on the snow that arrives this time of year. Through the winter that snow can actually sublimate," said Hammermeister, "Snow that arrives now isn't really going to have bearing on next year's crop. What farmers and ranchers are going to be watching is the snow that arrives in the second half of winter, particularly in March. That snow typically has more moisture in it, heavier snow that has more water in it.