Farmers are ready to plant as soon as the weather cooperates

Erratic weather has kept planters in a holding pattern for XtremeAg farmers in South Dakota, Iowa, and North Carolina.

Lee Lubbers - Gregory, South Dakota

Lee Lubbers is a fourth-generation farmer in Gregory, South Dakota. Lubbers Farms includes more than 17,000 acres of dryland soybeans, corn, and wheat. Lubbers says he is always trying to learn and challenge himself.

“If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes” is the South Dakota state motto. We've experienced temperatures ranging from almost 70°F above zero to -20°F windchills in a very short period of time over the last two weeks.

We finished spreading fertilizer on all of our winter wheat acres and applied our first pass on our corn acres. We ran three John Deere floaters for the better part of two weeks to get it done. It’s nice to have that out of the way. It's not normal to get it spread relatively easily in the month of March.

We've been hauling on a couple of corn contracts. With the lack of feeders or dairies in the area, our bushels usually have taillights attached to them on their way to an end user.

Most equipment has been run through the shops, and we are waiting for our new air seeders to show up. Chemicals are starting to show up, and we are testing products for our XtremeAg trials.

We've been in short sleeves and we’ve pushed snow in the last week. We were glad to get some snow cover on the winter wheat. On the backside of the front, we saw some really cold temperatures. With the heat breaking dormancy already, it would have burned it back. The snow cover acted like insulation for the wheat. It mostly melted off just prior to Easter. Stay safe, everyone! I hope you all got the chance to enjoy Easter with family.

Kevin Matthews - East Bend, North Carolina

Kevin Matthews and his wife, Cindy, are fourth-generation farmers in East Bend and Yadkinville, North Carolina. Matthews Family Farms, Deep Creek Grain, and Precision Nutrient Management farm corn, soybeans, wheat, and barley. 

A March Easter and warm, sunny weather really make us want to sow some seeds in the ground. In the next week, I’m sure we will be wide open planting corn and soybeans. We are expecting a cold, rainy period later this week. The fact that no Dogwood trees are blooming yet comforts me, knowing our seed is in the warehouse. Both corn planters are pretty close to field ready. The next step will be to run water throughout our fertilizer equipment and conduct a meter test on our row units to ensure top performance in seed delivery. Our soybean planter will go into the shop on Monday and should be ready to roll in a few days.

Burn down will start this week for corn and soybean ground, along with spreading more wood ash. This product, along with our poultry litter, is just one element used to protect our environment and ensure sustainable crop production while also enhancing the efficiency of nutrient availability to our plants.

We have been busy wrapping up planning our XtremeAg sponsor plots and our field day layouts. We will be looking at variety responses to potassium and calcium with AgroLiquid. Then, with a check pass between them, Nachurs will be present to observe many different combinations as well.

Kelly Garrett - Arion, Iowa

Kelly Garrett is a fifth-generation farmer in western Iowa. Garrett farms 4,000 acres of corn, over 1,800 acres of soybeans, and 170 acres of winter wheat.

In the last five days, we’ve received about two and a half inches of rain, which is beneficial for the upcoming crop. However, it’s kind of a hassle dealing with the mud, especially when all of our cows are in the heart of calving. But the moisture is a blessing. We’re glad it was rain and not snow. Originally, we were forecasted to get snow. When it dries up from the recent rain, we will be top dressing our wheat with a micronutrient package.

According to our weather forecast, it probably looks like it’s going to be at least three weeks before we consider planting anything. But it is drawing close, and we're getting ready to go. Our spring plant food application is also underway.

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