Nebraska’s planting progress still impacted by late-April tornadoes

Farmers on the eastern edge of Nebraska faced devastating storms on April 26. According to the National Weather Service, the storms produced the strongest tornadoes the eastern part of the state has seen in almost ten years. Douglas, Lancaster, and Washington Counties in Nebraska were all affected by the worst of the tornadoes, those rated EF-3.

Slowed planting progress

Tornadoes were localized to a relatively small area in East Nebraska. Despite this, USDA’s Crop Progress report data for the state as a whole showed that planting progress for two major crops slowed around the time of the storms.

Although corn planting for the state did continue to progress, there was a marked correlation between slowed progress in corn planting and the timing of the storms. According to USDA’s Crop Progress reports, the weekly increases in corn planted starting from the week ending April 14 to the week ending May 19 were 2, 4, 16, 9, 24, and 24 percentage points. The 9 point increase – lower than that of the previous week and noticeably different from the overall trend – was for the week ending May 5, the first full week after the tornadoes. 

Soybean planting for the state also continued to advance. However, there was a noticeable correlation between slowed progress in soybean planting and the timing of the storms. For soybeans planted, the weekly increases starting from the week ending April 14 to the week ending May 19 were 0, 2, 8, 8, 19, and 23 percentage points. The second instance of an 8 point increase – not a greater increase to follow the overall trend – was for the week ending May 5, again the first full week after the tornadoes. 

Although headway in planting these two crops picked up again after the slowed progress just after the storms, as of May 19, both crops were still behind compared to a year ago and respective five-year averages. 

In Monday’s report, USDA reported 79% corn planted as of May 19. That is down 5 points compared to last year at this time and is under the five-year average by 3 points. As for soybeans, USDA reported that 60% of Nebraska’s expected soybeans had been planted as of May 19 — a decrease of 14 points compared to a year ago and 6 points compared to the five-year average.

‘Dedicated no-tiller’ farmer had to till and replant after tornadoes

Mark Backhuus farms 320 acres of corn and soybeans in Washington County, Nebraska. On April 26, one of the EF-3 tornadoes struck his farm ground. He lost four grain bins and two machine sheds. Inside, two tractors, a disc, a field cultivator, three gravity wagons, and his bean head were totaled.

Until this experience Backhuus said that there is an aspect of a tornado’s destruction that he had never considered - what it does to the land itself. “It just took away all my crop residue,” he explained. “It took it away in places and piled it up in different places … it left a pretty big mess.” 

The heavy rain pounded the bare ground, making it "just like concrete.”

Backhuus adds there was a lot of debris to clean up after the storm. “I had a lot of volunteers that came out and helped.” One day 20 volunteers worked together with him to haul away eight dump-trailer loads of debris.

Backhuus said that besides the impact of the tornadoes on farmers’ time in the field, continued poor weather afterward forced further delays. Fields would nearly dry off but then more rain would come. Ultimately, he said, “We got set back probably three weeks.”

Although Backhuus had finished planting his corn a couple days before the storm hit, once he was able to get back in the field he had to replant the vast majority of the crop. Despite being a self-proclaimed “dedicated no-tiller” and having no-tilled for 30 years, he said he had to till the ground before replanting. 

When asked how he felt about the growing season ahead, Backhuus recounted all the help he had in cleaning up after the tornado and then getting the ground replanted himself, noting, “I did feel pretty good about it.” 

However, he went on to say that recently, his farm ground got five inches of rainfall. Considering that added moisture, especially on tilled ground, Backhuus said, “I’m not feeling very well at all again.”