News

Cold snap stopping progress, making some stone fruits vulnerable

Wet and frosty conditions across Michigan kept most farmers out of fields last week.

Jamie Zmitko-Somers tells Brownfield the weather is starting to put fieldwork on her family’s Shiawassee County crop farm behind.

“We’re kind of sitting back waiting for some of this rain and the cold weather to subside, hoping to get back into the field, get some field work done, and start planting soybeans in the next week or so,” she shares. 

As of Sunday, the USDA says winter wheat condition dropped sit points on the week to 63 percent good to excellent and 15 percent is now jointed.

Sugarbeets are 49 percent planted while oats are at 16 percent, barley is at six percent and soybeans are at two percent, all mostly ahead of last year and average.

West Olive grower Chad Reenders says blueberries were not progressing enough to see major damage from recent freezes.

“They can take the cold right now, it’s when those blossoms come out—the pink bud, the full blossom, and when the bees are out—that’s when those freezing temps can hurt us,” he explains.

Stone fruit like peaches and cherries in the southern regions were further along and most vulnerable to damage.