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Planting pace picking up, and that’s no joke

A farmer in northern Iowa jokes about what prompted him to start planting corn on Thursday.

“Well, the neighbors were rolling.”

Rusty Olson of Garner tells Brownfield the reality is it was just time.

“We got all the corn pre-sprayed (Thursday), and then my daughter had a school concert (so) I went to that. Then I came home and kind of had things ready to go, so we went out to give it a shot and it seemed to be working pretty good. The ground was really mellow.”

He says the soil is a little colder than he’d like.

“But back at home is a little colder. I’m actually working over by Rockford right now in a little bit lighter soil (that) seems to be warming up a little faster over here. And I think we’re going to be okay, we’re planting into moisture.”

Olson is also encouraged by the forecast, which calls for temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s through the end of April.