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2019 crop troubles expected to bubble over

An agronomist in the Upper Midwest expects troubles from 2019 to bubble over into 2020.

Adam Spelhaug with Peterson Farms Seed says only half the corn crop in North Dakota was harvested in the fall.

“There wasn’t a lot of tillage done last fall (and) very little if any fertility put on, so (farmers) still have all those parameters to do. And then the corn that isn’t harvested, trying to find time to get that done while the ground is still firm (is going to be tough) because I think the ground is still going to be pretty wet.”

He tells Brownfield some farmers might decide to burn the leftover corn this spring.

“We saw a lot of that in 2009 into 2010 where there was a lot of corn carried over from the winter. On a one year deal it doesn’t work too bad. It’s not something we want to do every year, but if you can get to warm up and dry out that’s probably one avenue we’ll have to go to.”

Peterson Farms Seed is headquartered near Fargo, North Dakota and covers the Dakotas as well as Minnesota.