By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Farmers are accustomed to uncertainty.
They have target dates on ideal times for getting into the fields in the spring, and then for planting.
Some years, they start early. Some years, it’s a late start.
Every year, there is one undisputed fact.
“It’s like waiting for Christmas,” said Kevan Parrett, who farms north of Mahomet. “It will come eventually.”
Parrett and his colleagues are anxious to get going this spring, especially since fall rains limited some of the advance work.
“The biggest thing is there’s not a lot of nitrogen on and that’s a little bit of a stumbling block,” said Dick Parnell, who farms southeast of Mahomet.
“It’s not critical yet.”
Last year, for example, Parnell got the planter in the field for the first time on April 21.
“We’re not late by any stretch of the imagination,” said Craig Anderson, who farms northwest of Mahomet.
“Last year we weren’t out (in the fields) until the last week of April and it was probably the best corn crop we’ve ever produced.”
The frequent weekly rains of the past month have prevented the fields from drying out, but are more frustrating than discouraging, according to Seymour farmer Chris Karr.
“We’re behind the eight-ball,” Karr said, “but we’ve seen this historically.
“There have been years farmers were not in the fields until after May 1st. My father (who is 97) always said, ‘it will clear up after Easter.’ ”
With more rain on the horizon, however, the already-saturated fields will become wetter.
Parrett said it’s time to start considering different options.
“Some fields that didn’t get tilled, you might go to Plan B, make a switch and plant no-till,” Parrett said.
While the focus is on the end result — planting — Anderson said there are other steps that must first be made in the preparation process.
“There’s a lot of work to be done before we can put seed in the ground,” Anderson said.
“There’s dry fertilizer, herbicides and liquid nitrogen to apply.”
Ideally, those applications would be started in March, “but this year, there has been no time,” Anderson said. “It has actually been wet since last November and we weren’t able to finish the fall tillage.
“We’re all tired and frustrated by that scenario.”
Parnell pointed out that adjustments can still be made while changing applications from pre-planting to post-emergence.
“You can put nitrogen on later,” Parnell said. “That is Plan B.”
Farmers are working against the clock.
The preference is to make the field applications prior to planting, but Parnell said, “it takes a week to 10 days to plant after you’ve applied anhydrous ammonia.”
Karr said that technological advances are a farmer’s friend.
“The biggest thing to our advantage,” Karr said, “is the genetics have improved.
“They’ve treated the seed so you can put it in wetter ground and it will still come up OK.”
Parnell said the “quality of seed treatment they put on keeps bacteria from eating away at the seed,” and is “much superior” to what was available a generation back.
Karr said he is among a group of farmers with enough equipment — and manpower — to make quick inroads once the weather is cooperative.
“Some farmers can have two planters going the same day, one for soybeans and one for corn,” Karr said. “We have two part-time people willing to help once they get off their full-time jobs at 3.”
The machinery itself is a factor in how quickly the work can get done.
“In today’s environment, with the size of the equipment, we can plant thousands of acres a day (collectively),” Anderson said. “If the weather is good for a stretch of 10 days to two weeks, we can pretty much be done.”
Though more rain is in the current forecast, Parrett said it’s not yet time to despair.
“The big thing is how warm and how much sunshine we get,” Parrett said. “If it stays in the 70s, things will improve dramatically.”
Don’t expect to see farmers in the fields right away.
If the prediction of more rain is accurate, Parrett projects “it’ll take over a week,” before the ground can be worked.
After decades in farming, Anderson has learned to take to heart the words of a farmer with even more years of experience than himself.
“One older farmer said he said never failed to put in a crop or take out a crop,” Anderson related. ”It doesn’t do any good to worry and stress about it every day.
“You have a plan, and when you can execute the plan, you go.”
Parrett has learned a rule of thumb that applies to all who farm.
“Be careful what you wish for,” he said. “Even though we want dry weather, we don’t want it to dry up completely.”
Added Anderson: “I’m worried about the rain stopping and not getting any more.
“We’d like to see these rains we’re getting spread out over May, June, July and August.”
After following the plight of those in agriculture in Nebraska and other states to the west and northwest, Anderson is thankful.
“When you look at what is happening in other parts of the midwest, we’re relatively lucky here,” he said. “I wake up every morning to see what the day will bring and go from there.”
