Editors' Notebook

Americans know all politics is local. Tip O'Neill taught us that. But farmers also know that all weather is local and all crop conditions are local. Drought in one area, flood in another. It all depends on where you reside.

Wednesday provided another good example of that. A farmer source in Iowa was informing us of many numbers of acres of corn under water in that state due to recent deluges. The prevented planting term, not one usually associated with the Big I corn state, was bandied about. See Marcia Zarley Taylor's excellent article on the subject in Ag News, "Waterlogged Growers Eye Prevented Planting."

To get some supporting info, I emailed my customer advisory group with questions about how planting was going and were they foreseeing PP in their future.

Steve Howe of Thurman, Iowa, said his corn and beans are planted, he doesn't have any flooded corn acres and doesn't expect to claim any prevented planting.

Jeff and Holly Littrell, of Chatfield, Minn., wrote they have 100 acres of corn left to plant out of 1,550 acres and they have no beans planted yet. They don't have any flooding in corn, but if the rain continues they may have 70 to 100 acres prevented planting.

Pete Bardole, of Jefferson, Iowa, wrote he will probably lose at least 10% of his corn to ponds from the heavy rain this weekend.

Not all the prevented planting will be corn acres. David Kjelstrup from North Dakota said his corn is all in, and up and looking great. He expects to lose very little corn, but that could change with more rain predicted. "We will have some PP," he added. "We have wheat that is not planted because we were waiting for it to dry.

"As I sit and write, the weatherman says 70% to 80% chance of rain through Wednesday."

Barry Mumby, who grows seed corn in southwest Michigan, reported his corn and soybeans are not completely planted yet and he will probably end up claiming some prevented planting acres.

Phil Carter grows corn and apples in New Era, Mich. Here's what he had to say: "I have not planted any corn for a week; wet weather and soils, apple spraying has been a priority. I am 5/9 done with corn and may not get all my intended acres in this year, even with a new planter (it did not come equipped with rubber tracks and pontoons).

"I don't plant beans, we have had an inch-plus this week and some area fields are under water, most of mine that have been planted don't have that problem. I have not called my insurance agent YET but am going to soon. Our weather forecast for this week is rain for most of the time. We have gone from a lot of enthusiasm to be pretty disqruntled about all this wet weather. Wish we could save this excess moisture for the summer."

A grower from southwest Minnesota reports all his corn is planted, just a few acres of beans left to get in, his area is still dry and he expects to claim no prevented planting.

Leonard Hofer in southwest South Dakota repots his corn is planting and he has about 60 acres of beans left. "We will lose a few corn acres, but I don't foresee taking any prevented planting," he said.

Bob and Chris Birdsell, of Stanberry, Mo., said their corn is all in and the beans are started, but not finished. They have no corn under water, but note "the rain isn't over." Still, they don't expect to claim any prevented planting.

Keith Landis, of northern Illinois, writes that he still has a field or two of corn left to plant (those are fields where they take hay off and haul manure before planting -- that corn is usually chopped). All his beans are planted. It is cool and damp, but not flooded, he notes, so he expects no prevented planting.

Kyle Bushman, of southeast Minnesota, wrote that he is only about 30% planted in corn, but he still seems pretty upbeat. "Will be taking prevented planting on remainder and will not be planting soybeans. Pricing call options just in case market takes off this late spring/summer. Going fishing!"

Todd Calfee of southwest Iowa has all his corn and beans planted and doesn't foresee any prevented planting in his future.

And, last, but not least, but also not part of that great big U.S. crop insurance program, Kevin Ross, of Essex, Ontario, reports: "Corn is all planted and entering 3-leaf stage but we had two mornings with frost here in southern Ontario about four days ago that made the corn look pretty ugly. Hopefully the warm weather on the way and rain we're getting will pull it out of its funk.

"Beans are all planted and emerging slowly, but the same as the corn. The much-needed rain we're getting now and warm temps will certainly help emergence ... I think the rain was a little late for our winter wheat though. This was our first rain since the N was applied and it's not looking the best. Then we got the frost on it too, so don't have high hopes for the winter wheat crop."

If you'd like to be involved in our email customer advisory panel, let me know. Cheri.zagurski@telventdtn.com. All are welcome!

(CZ)

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