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Planting progress varies for Hoosier farmers

A farmer in west central Indiana says soybean planting is nearly complete.

Paul Hodgen raises corn, soybeans, and wheat in Putnam County.

“We have about 200 soybeans acres left to go and about half the corn to go. So, we’re chugging right through it. We need a couple of warm, sunny days and we’ll get it knocked out,” he says.

Hodgen, who is currently serving as president of the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, says he started planting April 15.

“Most of that early crop is now poking up through the ground and it’s looking good,” he says. “It’s off to a great start.”

Planting is off to a slower start in the southeastern part of the state due to some cool and wet conditions.

Mike Koehne raises high oleic soybeans, food-grade soybeans, food-grade corn, and non-GMO corn in Decatur County.

“We basically got enough in the ground to make sure the planters all worked, and that’s about as far as we got so far. So hopefully as soon as we get some dry weather again, it’s going to be all in and go time,” he says.

Koehne, current chairman of the Indiana Soybean Alliance, says there is plenty of fieldwork to complete including installing drainage tile.

Brownfield interviewed the farmers during the recent High Performance Low Carbon Liquid Fuels Summit in Speedway, Indiana.