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Planting delays snowball

Planting delays this spring have caused additional problems for east-central Indiana farmer Elaine Gillis.  She says not only are they significantly behind on planting progress – they’re behind on fieldwork that would typically be completed before planting.  “There’s still burndown that needs to be done to get the crop area clean and ready for planting,” she says.  “It’s a challenge to even get spreaders and sprayers across the field.”

She tells Brownfield there are other delays as well.  “We aren’t getting a lot of tillage work done either, she says. “That can also be a set back if we work it in the wrong conditions and not be an optimal seed bed for the seed once we’re able to get that in the ground.”

She says the delays feel like they are snowballing this year – but with today’s technology a lot of planting can be accomplished in a short period of time as long as Mother Nature cooperates.

As of Wednesday, Gillis says they had less than 5 percent of their corn crop and none of their soybeans planted.  According to the latest weekly crop and weather report – 75 percent of the corn crop has been planted in Indiana.