Scott Gunderson says farmers are between three and a half to four weeks “ahead of the 2019 planting schedule.” The UW-Extension Manitowoc Agriculture agent spoke with Seehafer News this week about what he termed the “excellent” start to the Spring planting season.
“A number of farmers that I’ve talked to are done and these are farmers that have a lot of acreages that they have to cover. It’s one of the nicest planting seasons in a very long time.”
Gunderson spoke about the field-work that’s been accomplished already.
“We’re seeing stone picking being done, spring tillage, manure hauling and planting on some farms completely done. That’s true, I think also, statewide. Some farmers got corn planted back on the 20th of April if you’re down in the southern part of the state for example.”
The County AG expert points out that recent rainfall is ideal for germination, plus it’s, “perfect for activating herbicides for those farmers that use herbicides in order to control weed pressure. I think if we can have even germination, it’s desired by farmers and agronomists because then later in the year, the corn crops, for example, are all ready to be harvested at the same time. Whereas in the past, we’ve had low areas, cold soils where we might have had a two or three-week difference between germination rates for example, and that really makes it difficult for harvesting.”
Gunderson explained last Spring was one of the worst, if not ‘the’ worst for farmers in half a century or more. Meanwhile, he says dairy farmers are coming out of 5-years of depressed milk prices and they were just able to realize some profits in late December/January to make long-overdue capital improvements.
Then, COVID-19 hit and future milk prices dropped 35-to-40 % overnight and that’s impacting farmers for the 6th year in a row.
Gunderson added, “cash flow is negative for most dairy farmers.”
