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Wet fall spells spring trouble

An agronomist in southern Minnesota is concerned the impact of this fall’s wet harvest will still be felt in the spring.

Jon Zuk with Winfield United says farmers had a hard time getting crops out, working the ground, and applying fertilizer towards the end of the season.

“I’m thinking ahead into 2019 and how we’re going to manage some of the compaction issues that we’re going to have to deal with.  We’ve got a soil profile that’s pretty full (so) how are we going to manage that as the soil starts to thaw in the spring?”

He tells Brownfield growers in the Upper Midwest are accustomed to tight windows because seasons tend to be shorter.

“We don’t really have the luxury of really waiting around very long before we start losing yield because it’s either still in the bag or still not in the bin, one way or the other.”

Zuk says he’s hoping for a long, drawn out spring so farmers can finish what was started in the fall.