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Planters waiting for warmer soil temps in southwest Illinois

A southwest Illinois farmer says planters are still on hold in his area.

“I haven’t seen any planters running, I’ve heard some gossip that there’s a field here and there planted but I haven’t seen anything in our immediate locale.”

Dean Campbell of Coulterville tells Brownfield unlike farmers further north, soil moisture is not a problem for them.  

“We got about 8/10 of an inch of rain and we’ve got some shiny puddles here and there in the fields again after that so that tells you it wasn’t very dry.”

But he says one disadvantage compared to northern Illinois farmers is lighter, cooler soils.

“Our soil doesn’t warm up like some of the darker soils up north of here. We’ve just got to get the soil warmed up.”

He says they have been working on vertical tillage into their double crop bean stubble to help break open the soil and warm it up for planting.