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Farmer now anticipating normal spring timetable
Over the past month, there has been a lot of speculation about possible spring planting delays in the Midwest due to wet soils and cool temperatures. But conditions have improved significantly in recent days, to the point that a normal mid-April start to planting season looks like a real possibility for many farmers.
Klint Cork farms in Ida County in west-central Iowa, near the town of Galva. Despite record-breaking snow and cold this past winter, he says they hope to start planting in a couple of weeks.
“Right now we’re doing a little maintenance to the tractors, and we’ve got some fine-tuning to do to the planter, and I think we’re ready to go,” Cork says. “I would guess here in the next couple weeks there will be a lot of manure applied and I still have some lime I’d like to get put on, if conditions are right.”
Cork says he is incorporating more GPS technology into his operation this year, including the addition of autosteer on his sprayer.
“Hopefully with the autosteer we’ll reduce overlaps, especially in the spring,” he says, “reduce chemical use, be more accurate and potentially reduce drift and other issues—and less crop damage.
Yesterday’s crop and weather report for Iowa rated soil moisture conditions as 54 percent adequate and 43 percent surplus.
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