This Week In Ag #118
Baseball gurus know that how many hits you get isn’t as important as when you get them. Sure, hits any time count toward your batting average, but hits with runners on base score runs and win games. Same can be said for farmers and rain. Corn growers pray for rain during tasseling; soybean growers need it during pod fill; cotton growers must have it at pinhead square.
In the month of May, the Delta was deluged. We got over 9” at my farm in Memphis, where the average May rainfall is 5”. This has created a peck of trouble for farmers. In addition to forcing many to re-plant flooded acreage, persistent rains have prevented farmers from entering the field to sidedress nitrogen or make foliar applications of nutrients and herbicides. You have to wonder if the nitrogen you did apply at the start of the season is still where it needs to be.
These troubles are not exclusive to the Delta. Driving through southern Illinois yesterday I couldn’t believe how many fields were still untouched or were being replanted. On a personal note, I was unable to get my soybeans planted and I’ve already missed two planned foliar corn applications. Ironically, a practice I use to get water to the crop is helping save the crop from drowning. Furrow irrigation is a popular practice in the Mid-South. It involves forming hips, or ridges, to plant seeds on top of. This elevates the emerged crop and builds pronounced furrows between the rows. These furrows not only serve as a system to bring water to the crop’s roots when needed, but channel excessive rainfall to help prevent puddling in the field. Unfortunately, it’s not like you can really save all this excessive rain for later in the summer, certainly not for the highly permeable soil found in the Delta. Those who farm the fertile fields of the “I states” can save it to some degree, due to improved subsoil moisture. Adding insult to injury is that early rains don’t ensure summer rains, when it counts most. Like they say in the Delta, we’re always five days away from a drought.
Despite all the curveballs thrown at it, my corn looks pretty good. It has grown rapidly; reaching V5 stage in just 23 days. With the upcoming forecast for sunny skies and temperature in the upper 80s, you won’t recognize it a week from now.
Related Posts
This Week in Ag #17
Today we commemorate one of the most important dates in history, D-Day. In 1944, the fate of the world literally depended on the success of this amphibious invasion. The bravery of our soldiers abroad – and the perseverance of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers in the factories at home – were paramount to our ultimate victory.
From the Field: Exploring the Impact of Biostimulants in Asia
Last June, I had the privilege of visiting parts of Asia to attend a conference hosted by one of our distributors. The event brought together ag experts, farmers, and researchers from different parts of the world to discuss the future of farming. I was excited to collaborate with them all and little did I know,
The Spring Rush: What Farmers Are Up Against
The Spring Rush: What Farmers Are Up Against “Farmers are always thinking about our products.” I’ll never forget those words, uttered by an old client of mine. She worked for a large life sciences company. We were launching a pre-emergence corn herbicide, to a market saturated with them. I thought she was joking. She wasn’t. I told her that in the hierarchy of thoughts occupying a farmer’s mind, pre-emergent herbicides barely registered. Adding that we had already spent more time thinking about them during our meeting than most farmers do all year. To be fair, she isn’t the only one to share this flawed view. Few occupations require more versatility, or have more irons in the fire, than farming. That’s why I’ve long advocated that anyone marketing to farmers considers not just the product they are selling, and what challenge or opportunity it may address, but what impact it will have on their entire operation – from soil to software, labor to logistics. Because that’s how farmers think. As the calendar turns to April, we’re entering the busiest – and most critical time – of the year.
