Wet conditions slow crop planting and growth

XtremeAg Farmers struggle to finish planting in Maryland and South Dakota.

Matt Miles - McGehee, Arkansas

Matt Miles is a fourth-generation farmer in southeast Arkansas. Miles farms 3,500 acres of corn, 3,500 acres of soybeans, 1,500 acres of cotton, and 1,500 acres of rice.

I was talking to an older rice consultant yesterday and asked the question, “Have you ever seen it this wet and cloudy this long through the spring?”

He scratched his head and said, “I sure don’t think so.”

This is my 35th personal crop and I feel the same as him. It hasn’t been flooding rains, just ¼ to 1 inch every few days. We all think being wet is bad, but being cloudy may be more detrimental than the moisture. Plants need the sun to perform photosynthesis, and this year they aren’t getting it like they normally do.

Someone asked me how my crop looked. My reply was, “Surprisingly, with all the cloudy weather, it’s not terrible looking.”

I sure don’t think we will pull any records this year, but visually and from tissue samples, the crop looks okay. Knowing there’s a lack of sunlight still looms in the back of my mind, though.

Some years, Layne and I feel we are over staffed and that we have too much equipment. Sometimes it’s hard to justify these things. In a 10-year period, this may occur six or seven years, but in the other three to four years that are wet, we realize it makes up for those years that are normal. In years like this, we may get two or three days a week to be in the field. To hit those short planting and spraying windows, we have to get as many acres as possible. We feel that having a quality staff and enough equipment to do this pays more back in those few wet years than it costs us in the normal ones. We have a crop, now we just need the time and weather to see it till the end. 

I know we aren’t in this boat alone, as it’s been wet from north to south. We have had it way better than my buddies in south Louisiana or on the East Coast for sure. Good luck to everyone, and I pray you hit those windows as they present themselves.

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.

Planting has been a challenge this year, yet we feel very fortunate. We started later than normal and had a fast and furious eight-day push before being stopped by rain again. We began with corn, using two planters, and started no-tilling soybeans the next day. We dodged some showers during the eight-day run and managed to plant/seed over 1,200 acres a day on multiple days. Teamwork makes the dream work, as they say, and this year is no different. We don’t run a large crew, but everyone did awesome. All the preventative maintenance and days of prep work getting everything in place ahead of time paid off very well for us. We made our time count. We've had intermittent rains since then, and we are working to finish up. There are a few fields we can do now, and we hope to get the rest done sometime next week.

We’ve been fortunate so far this year. We are wetter than normal, but we haven’t had any flooding rains or tornadoes in our area, unlike some unfortunate areas to our south. The hail has also managed to stay away. Our winter wheat looks good. We had to use planes for our passes this year. Our wheat is heading and about to start flowering, which is about a week ahead of normal. That seems to be a common theme this year from north to south.

Our custom cutter, who runs with us, is in the Enid, Oklahoma, area with several crews gearing up to go. They are ahead of normal as well. We could potentially be cutting some early wheat by the Fourth of July. The only other year we did that was 2012, which was a drought year, and this year is not a drought so far. We have been cooler than normal, which makes the earlier-than-normal timing even more unusual.

We are wrapping up a 400,000-bushel corn contract this week, so trucks will slow down for a while until we decide to move more. Stay safe, everyone.

Temple Rhodes - Centreville, Maryland

Temple Rhodes is a fifth-generation farmer in Centreville, Maryland. Chestnut Manor Farms operates 3,000 acres of soybeans, 1,500 acres of corn, and 1,500 acres of wheat. His family also runs a hunting operation.

In the last few weeks in this area, guys have been finishing up planting season. I would estimate we are somewhere around 85% planted. Farmers are busy side dressing and applying post herbicide on the early corn that was planted in April. 

The corn looks average and the soybeans seem to be standing still, looking below-average. They need sun and heat, but unfortunately, we kept getting rain and clouds. This week looks to be dry, hot, and sunny so it should be the fix we need. The wheat is starting to turn, and I believe the harvest will be a week or so earlier than normal.

A lot of soybeans have been affected by slug damage and replant is up higher than normal. We hope the get everything done in time. Next week is Kelly Garrett’s field day, so I am looking forward to attending that. I don’t like being away from the farm for too long during this time, but I have faith my guys can handle it while I am away.

Learn more