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Farmers on edge about spring planting

Wet weather has farmers on edge about spring planting.

“It’s not dire yet, but boy, there is some head scratching going on.”

Ken Franklin farms corn, beans and wheat in Taylorville, Illinois. He tells Brownfield he posted a photo on Twitter of a planter test they did on high ground and many followers were surprised, inferring he had started planting.

“It shows how anxious everybody is to get going because not much till work got done last fall. You know, we kept thinking we would have a nice February or a nice March and maybe we won’t even have a nice April. I don’t know.”

He says farmers are resilient and have the equipment to get done fast, but the scope of the wet conditions this year will make it hard for suppliers to stay ahead.

“Everybody is going to go at once and that could be an issue. Especially anhydrous suppliers are telling us, you know, we need someone to go first and get dried up or we’re going to have issues. Everybody will be able to run for seven days and then supplies will be empty and then they’ll be allocated. When it gets dry, it’s going to be a rat race.”

He says it is hard to see how many farmers in the Midwest will have crops planted early.