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Snowfall causing farmers to replant

A central Missouri farmer is expecting to do some replanting in the wake of widespread snowfall Tuesday morning.

Nathan Alpers tells Brownfield the snow will likely reset his timetable for planting but he’s not in a hurry yet.

“It’d be hard for me to tell somebody not to get antsy because I’ll get that way, but we’ve just got to take our time,” he said. “We’d rather do it once instead of twice so, we just can’t get too excited and we can’t help the snow, and we can’t help what Mother Nature throws us.”

The Cooper County farmer said he’s planted some beans but thankfully planter issues slowed him down. While Alpers is expecting to replant, he’s waiting to access the extent of it.

“The seed’s still hard, it’s got a quarter to half inch until sprout,” Alpers said. “At this point in time, it’s still alive and viable. You know, a person, I guess, can’t make a replant decision right now but with it snowing, I’m not very hopeful that it’s going to come up.”

Alpers said his soil temperature Monday was 47 degrees near the surface and 45 degrees further down so he’ll have to see a steady warming trend before he plants his corn.