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Fading La Nina should lead to a wetter Midwest spring

After three years, the La Nina weather pattern is beginning to fade and an atmospheric scientist says that should mean a wetter spring.

Eric Snodgrass with Nutrien Ag Solutions tells Brownfield a shift to El Nino generally means a wetter spring in the Midwest which is good news for the drought stricken western corn belt.

“Overall, I would say this is the first year in the last three where there has been a more favorable outlook for the drought situation in the western corn belt, but it is not yet cured.”

He says east of the Mississippi River, most forecasting models show wetter conditions from the mid-south to the Ohio River valley into spring.

“Now we are going to have the discussion of when do the planting windows open to get a crop in without putting it in under adverse conditions. We don’t want to mud it in and we don’t want to put it in, in a less than ideal environment. Based off the information I have here at the end of January it looks as though the eastern corn belt could see some tighter planting windows going into spring 2023.”

Brownfield interviewed Snodgrass during the Fielding Forward Crop Insurance Meeting hosted by Farm Credit Illinois in Highland, IL on Tuesday.

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