News

Field conditions outweigh calendar date

As the calendar turned to April, Brian Scott, who farms north east of West Lafayette, Indiana wasn’t worried about the slow start to the planting season.  Two weeks later – he still isn’t.  “I wouldn’t say for us we’re late, yet,” he says.  “It’d be nice to get going next week.  Soils are just a little bit damp and cool.  We haven’t had a lot of days of good sunlight.”

As planting gets underway, Scott tells Brownfield right now he’s more concerned about field conditions.  “We wait for things to be right,” he says.  “In 2013 and 2014 we were late.  We didn’t get started planting until May and those were two of the biggest crops we’ve ever grown.  If you get a little bit of rain here and there after you plant – it fixes a lot of planting date problems.  So I’m not too worried about that.”

And if weather became an issue, he says without any breakdowns, they could finish their planting in 7 days if needed.

When Scott talked to Brownfield on Tuesday, he had just started nitrogen application and said the fields were still a little wet.