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Crops remaining resilient through drought

A West Michigan dairy farmer says he’s surprised how well crops are holding their own given several months of drought conditions.

Kent Folkema of Fremont estimates he’s only had about an inch and a half of rain since planting before this past weekend.  He tells Brownfield when comparing notes with other farmers, cover crops and limited tillage seems to have helped moisture retention.

“We think that’s helped us on retaining moisture when we get it and when we saw this half tenth, six tenths the other day, the corn is already knee-high and looking good so we’re pretty happy,” he explains.

In a year of high feed prices, incremental rain like what came this weekend Folkema says has been a blessing.

“For what little moisture we’ve had, we’re shockingly surprised,” he says.

Folkema says as milk prices have become more stable this year, the farm plans on focusing on repairs and finding the greatest return on investments.

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