The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

Related Photos

  • John Cross

    Sprouting

May 15, 2009

Planting almost done

But farmers are stalled in the east

By Tim Krohn

Southern Minnesota farmers are in the sweet spot when it comes to planting corn and soybeans.

Unrelenting rains have kept farmers out of the fields in the eastern Corn Belt. Here, it’s been near-perfect weather for getting crops in.

“Planting conditions have been good. There have just been some spotty showers,” said Amboy area farmer Kevin Paape. “The corn is virtually all in in this area, and most of it is coming up.”

More than half of the soybeans have been planted and many farmers will finish up in the next few days.

The greater Mankato area could do with some rain — and heat — to jump start the crops.

“The topsoil is getting dry. It’s been windy just about every day and that dries those top few inches out quickly,” Paape said. “And we’ve had some soil erosion.”

One thing that hasn’t been so good is the temperature. “We need some heat units now. With these cold nights, it’s hard to gain ground. We need some heat to get things germinated and up.”

In spite of some fears last fall that there could be shortages of fertilizer and some other inputs this spring, farmers were able to get everything they needed.

But, save for lower fuel prices, the costs remained high. “Certainly the prices of the inputs haven’t come down as fast as the prices of the commodities did,” Paape said.

While grain prices dropped sharply over the winter, they have rebounded recently as planting has been slowed in much of the Midwest.

Grain futures on the Chicago Board of Trade gained on Tuesday after the Department of Agriculture released its latest monthly supply and demand report.

Soybean futures for July delivery were $11.18 per bushel. July corn was $4.27 a bushel and July wheat was $5.93 per bushel.

The good planting reports in most of Minnesota stand in stark contrast to the eastern Corn Belt.

Many farmers from eastern Missouri across Illinois and Indiana and into Ohio have not even begun planting because of a wet spring. Rain fell across much of the area again Thursday.

The region accounts for somewhere between a quarter and a third of the country’s corn crop. In Illinois, 10 percent of the expected crop has been planted at a time when more than 80 percent typically would be in the ground, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Indiana has 11 percent of its crop planted rather than the usual 70 percent; Missouri’s statewide figure is 39 percent, compared to 75 percent. Ohio farmers have planted just less than a quarter of their corn rather than the usual two-thirds by early May.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local News