Farmers eye weather for early planting opportunities

The forecast looks promising for early planting potential in some parts of the Corn Belt. The XtremeAg farmers are eager to get in the field when conditions are right.

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.

It sure seems like we're going to have an early spring. However, my long-term forecast shows a late frost. I'm a little bit uncertain about what to do, given the signs we're seeing with an early Easter and my weather forecast. We'll have to see how things play out. If this weather holds, we're preparing in to start seeding our cold-season forages into our new, intensive grazing area that we're researching in the next couple of weeks.

We're currently facing the challenge of profitability on soybeans. We're going to take a hundred acres that would typically go to soybeans, and do some very intensive rotational grazing. We'll seed an eight or nine species mix of cold-season grasses, and around Memorial Day, we'll introduce another eight or nine species mix of warm-season grasses.

Our goal is to sustain two to three cows per acre. It's going to be a significant challenge since we've never done anything like this before. However, in an effort to improve the ROI of the farm, we're going to give it a shot on about 100 acres and see what happens. My sons and I are very excited about this, and we'll be giving updates throughout the season.

There has been a lot of talk about the 45Z tax credit and what's going to happen there. There's a lot of discussion on social media, and I'm very interested in seeing how that plays out. Please educate yourselves on the 45Z tax credit and look into getting your farm CI score.

Commodity Classic is this week, and I am very excited to get the chance to meet new people and talk to familiar faces. My family and I love attending Commodity Classic every year. It is a great place to go to learn more about farming and different products. I plan to be speaking at different booths, so please come and check it out this week in Houston, Texas. 

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.

Early spring or false spring… I have a hunch that our recent unusually nice weather will not stick around for long. Other than some snow drifts, everything has melted off the fields. We would actually prefer temperatures to become more seasonal. Instead of ranging from 45°F to 60°F, more normal temperatures would benefit our winter wheat. If this warm spell persists, the plants could attempt to break dormancy way too early, which would not bode well for our wheat crop. It would increase the odds of winterkill. We have lost more wheat crops in the months of March to May than we ever have in December to February.

Load limits are in effect on all secondary roads for the next 45 days, and you don't see a lot of grain moving in our area currently. When it's not cropping season, it's continuing education season. There are numerous opportunities to better oneself, and the granddaddy of them all, Commodity Classic, is this week. I've enjoyed the years I've been able to attend. This year, our XtremeAg group gets to host an early riser session and also speak and answer questions at numerous booths. The learning never stops.

We are just wrapping up rebuilding our corn head and servicing and polishing trucks in our shop. We make a list and keep updating it as we go for projects. I'm working on preliminary spreadsheets for XtremeAg trial work, as is everyone else. Stay safe, everyone, and keep learning.

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.

Dry weather has kept us busy! We're getting field work done and hopefully lowering the workload for upcoming planting season. Poultry litter is being spread. We also apply wood ash, a byproduct from a local plant, as a good form of fertilizer. Wheat and barley have received one application of nitrogen with a rye grass spray on some acres to be applied this week. We will apply another trip of nitrogen to carry the crop to harvest. The multiple applications of nitrogen is one of many practices we use to be sustainable in producing a low nitrogen, high yielding crop.

We experienced a January flood which seemed to be a normal flood for us. We knew the waters were going to rise quickly due to 4 to 6 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. The water pushed to a higher flood stage than expected, but certainly not record flooding.

Unfortunately, the rain created what seems like much more work cleaning in the fields than in the past. The corn stalks settling into corners and low areas of the fields has been a major challenge. It is important you don’t lose the fertilizer and organic matter the stalks contain when they have to be moved. We use bulldozers to push huge piles of stalks to the edges of the field so they can decompose, then next year we push them back into the fields to improve the topsoil. This certainly is not cheap, but it is a part of farming in the river valley.

Planters are still being worked on in the shop. One is near done and we've got two more left. We will jump on them hard the first three weeks of March. With an early Easter, we expect to be planting near the end of the month and definitely by the first of April with weather permitting.

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