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Wisconsin, Illinois farmers deal with alfalfa winterkill

An agronomist says many farmers have been forced to deal with alfalfa winterkill.  Joel Stieber with Corteva AgriScience tells Brownfield the age of many stands and the impacts of weather caused a lot of losses this spring. “The wet summer in 2018, and then looking at how much water and ice was over the top of some of these stands, it’s amazing to me that any of them made it to be honest with you.”

Stieber says most alfalfa has now broken dormancy and farmers can see what they have. “In a lot of cases, it’s not whole fields. You’ve got puzzles out there the low spots, the poor-drainage spots are the ones that took it hard.”

Stieber says he’s seen a lot of alfalfa seed going out the door in the last couple of weeks as farmers try to plant new stands or re-establish areas affected by winterkill.