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Moisture in Eastern Kansas created ideal time to wrap up corn planting

Northeast Kansas farmer Lance Rezac says soil conditions were nearly perfect for corn planting this month.

“The ground came out of spring really mellow and loose.  We no till everything.  It hadn’t rained to pack it down or run it off.  It was a really nice, mellow seed bed.  I don’t think it could have been any better.”

He says his area received about 2 inches of rain last week, which helped improve dry conditions. “Eastern Kansas is pretty good.  Some guys in Western Kansas say it’s so dry that they’re not going to plant unless it rains.”

Rezac says weather is his biggest concern for 2023 even though the US Drought Monitor shows significant relief.  “We’re not technically in the drought anymore, but it’s been awfully dry. Usually those droughts move southwest to northeast, and last year we got into it and crops weren’t very good.” 

According to the latest map, 13 percent of the state isn’t in some form of drought classification, and 56 percent is in extreme or exceptional drought.