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Missouri farmer targeting early planting dates

A Northwest Missouri farmer is looking to plant early if conditions remain dry. Richard Oswald tells Brownfield he’s targeting the second week of April for his corn and late April for his soybeans.

“Mainly, the soil temperature is what’s important so I’m not big on [planting] the corn when the soil temperature is still below germination, but it just seems as though the soil warms up earlier and earlier,” he said.

He said this has been one of the drier starts to spring in recent memory. Oswald says the last decade has had the most extreme variance of weather he can remember with flooding the last two years and scattered drought conditions.

“I don’t really sit on the edge of my seat anymore waiting on these half inch rains,” Oswald said. “I sit on the edge of my seat waiting to see if we’re going to get a five-inch rain.”

Oswald said he will be double cropping some corn and beans this year to get back to an even split between the crops after flooding disruptions last year.