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Missouri farmer says lack of subsoil moisture a concern heading into growing season

A Missouri farmer says the lack of subsoil moisture and inconsistent rainfall are some of his top concerns heading into the growing season. 

Brian Threlkeld raises corn and soybeans in northeast Missouri.  “We didn’t have a lot of snow and we haven’t got a lot of rain right here where I live,” he says.  “We farm in about a 20-mile geography and we’ve had three inches to the west of us, but right here at my house, we’ve only had like an inch. So there’s been a big difference in the rain.”

He tells Brownfield that emergence has been varied – even within fields. “It’s kind of spotty in places where the clay spots are, so they’re a little uneven and we’re hoping in the next couple weeks that they’re going to even out and everything’s going to kind of come together for us,” he says.

Threlkeld says the lack of precipitation and warmer temperatures this spring allowed them to start planting in early April and he finished in early May.  He says it was the polar opposite of 2022, when rains kept them out of the fields until early May. 

AUDIO: Brian Threlkeld, Missouri farmer