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Patience before planting pays

An agronomist says farmers need to be patient before planting.

Bob Berkevich with Pioneer in Wisconsin says some farmers have put in some corn and soybeans, but many are waiting for the right soil conditions… as they should. “At the end of the day, sometimes the best decision is just to be patient and to wait for better conditions because really, your yield potential takes a pretty severe hit if you’re out there doing field work or planting when the conditions just aren’t right.”

Berkevich tells Brownfield less than ideal soil conditions at planting can affect uniformity of the plants at emergence. “If we don’t have good, uniform emergence, we can reduce our yield potential anywhere from five to nine percent right out of the gate, so at modern yield levels in corn, you know, we’re talking a 10-20 bushel yield hit right out of the gate just from non-uniform emergence.”

Berkevich says when planting time does arrive, he says most farmers can stick to a two-inch corn depth as there is adequate topsoil moisture in most of the state.