A rainy and cool spring season has caused planting problems for farmers in Starke and Pulaski Counties.
“Those things combined have made for a very wet season which, in general, has delayed planting and we’re well behind the average planting for this time of the year. I’m specifically talking about corn planting. For example, the information that we had this past week indicated that across the state, we had planted two percent of the corn, compared to sixty-nine percent at the same time last year,” said Alan Kurtz, Ag and Natural Resources Educator at Purdue Extension.
Kurtz was asked how the delay will affect yields.
“The general consensus is that delayed planting does reduce yields in corn and soybeans,” he replied. “However, it’s just one of the factors that affects yields. The folks at Purdue are telling people not to panic if planting is delayed. You can still achieve respectable yields even if there is delayed planting.”
The weather should turn around in the next couple of weeks so the farmers will be out in full force planting corn and soybeans.
“One thing we can say about the farmers locally and across the state is that they have a lot of good equipment and capacity to plant a lot of acreage in a hurry if conditions improve. One thing we’re hoping is that we get a week or two of descent weather and in two or three weeks from now, we’ll be looking at this as a more normal planting season.”
Watch for slow moving farm machinery out on the roads as farmers get their fields planted.
