Apr 28, 2011

Unfavourable weather in US affects corn planting

Paul Schomberg of Wiscosin, Barre Mills inferred that this spring's cold and wet weather has delayed the beginning of spring corn planting by a week, and this could escalate to two weeks because the National Weather Service foresees rain on most days this week.

"Normally we start planting corn around April 20," said Schomberg, who farms with his brother, John, and father, Fred. Unusually good spring weather allowed the Schombergs to start planting corn about April 15, 2010, he said.

The Schombergs normally start planting soy sometime between May 1 and 10.

Yet it is too early to begin worrying about a late spring, Schomberg said. "It is just nice to be out there planting and making sure your stuff is running right," he said.

Schomberg did his first spring tillage work on April 18 and into the early morning of April 19, the day snow returned to the La Crosse area. "And it was borderline then," said Schomberg, who has not yet returned to the fields.

Spring planting and tillage is off to a slow start, agreed Steve Huntzicker, University of Wisconsin-Extension agriculture adviser in La Crosse County. "Last year, with the nice weather we had, we saw a lot of farmers with a good majority of tillage started and planting happening full steam at this point," he said. "This year is a different year."

Only a small amount of tillage has begun in La Crosse County and very little planting has taken place, Huntzicker said. Area farmers usually begin planting corn in late April or early May, start planting soy in early to mid-May and usually finish planting both crops by the end of May or early June, he said.

Only 7% of spring tillage has been completed in the state, the Wisconsin Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service said in its weekly crop report on Monday (Apr 25). That was down from 56% at the same time last year and a five-year average of 28%.

About 12% of the state's oats crop has been planted, compared with 78% last year and a five-year average of 46%, according to the report. Very little corn or soy planting has been done; the agency did not give percentage estimates for those crops.