April Showers Will Keep Planting on Hold
While getting corn in the ground in early April is a goal of some Indiana farmers, it may be difficult this year. Hoosier Ag Today chief meteorologist Ryan Martin has been saying for the last month that April was going to be cool and wet; and he continues to say that. According to Ryan, “April is going to be cooler and wetter than normal. We have showers moving through the state as we start the month, another system next week, and yet another major system coming in around the middle of the month. The issue for farmers is finding enough dry days to dry out the soil and actually get some work done.” He says the cooler than normal trend will slow evaporation rates and will make it hard to get fields dry enough fast enough to get planting rolling, but “The models look a little dryer as we move toward the end of the month and into May.”
Martin says, while Indiana farmers have to deal with very few dry days, farmers in the Western Corn Belt will get some dry conditions, “Iowa looks like it will be dry and, while that will allow them to plant earlier and faster, that dryness could be trouble if it continues into the summer.” He says Illinois may see some dry pockets, but, for the most part, does not see any problems for Illinois or Indiana.
Now as far as growers up north are concerned, they may get a chance to put seeds in the ground much earlier than normal. Martin says the unknown is what seeds will they plant, “Parts of North and South Dakota will be able to plant early, but will they put soybeans in over the spring wheat or try and plant corn.”
Check out Ryan’s complete farm forecast in the weather section of our web site.