Editors' Notebook

OMAHA (DTN) -- Copious amounts of precipitation in the U.S. Southeast have producers there wondering when they'll be able to start fieldwork for the 2015 growing season. DTN Senior Ag Meteorologist Bryce Anderson wrote last Friday that a two-week delay from normal would not be out of the question.

Rains continued after Anderson's article was written. Enough so that DTN reader Daniel Hiller of Hardin County, Ohio, mused, "With the cold, late winter they (Southern producers) may be better off if it gets late to take prevented planting than to grow a crop. It would allow them to use other chemicals to control those Roundup resistant weeds that are taking over."

An interesting thought. Key, of course, to implementing that plan is knowing the prevented planting dates for your area. I have spent quite a bit of time Thursday morning on the RMA's website, trying to find a table listing states (or counties if that's how the breakdown occurs) and late planting dates. No luck. I have found general guidelines, but it would be best to check with your local authorities for specific dates in your area. Or, if you find a comprehensive table of states and dates on the RMA website, share the URL with me, please.

"The late planting period is generally 25 days after the final planting date but may vary by crop and area, as specified in the policy," according to the RMA website.

It may be a wee bit early to worry about prevented planting, but delayed pre-planting fieldwork is a given in some areas.

Brandon Whitt, who farms near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, wrote DTN, "It is crazy wet and expecting more" here. "It will be at least two to three weeks late starting ANYTHING at this point!"

At the southern tip of Illinois in Alexander County, Kenton Thomas is battling the moisture, also. "It is very wet with most of the snow gone today (March 10). It should feel a little like spring with 60 being the high temp tomorrow. There will be more rain after that. I have planted corn in two weeks (in the past) but that won't happen this year."

John Moore of Manhattan, Illinois, reported: "Around here ... things are still a little frosty, although a few 50-degree days have done a lot toward getting rid of snow. Spent a couple days this past week putting compost on the fields while the frost was still firm. However, spring fieldwork probably won't get going until middle to end of April unless things dry up quickly.

"This is the time of year when every farmer should go out and get a membership to a gym so that we can keep from getting into the fields too soon and we can get back in shape from the long winter's rest before it's time to lift that first bag of seed corn and then reach for the container of 'Icy Hot' for the aches and pains."

Excess moisture is also a problem in southwest Indiana, Scott Wallis reports. "Southwest Indiana is extremely wet with all rivers at or above flood stage," he wrote. "Wouldn't think we could get to the field in the next three weeks if the weather was perfect. Normal start would be in the first half of April."

An ag banker in Danville, Illinois, Adam Stonecipher wrote: "Things are thawing out in east-central Illinois and west-central Indiana. Ten-day forecast generally looks frost-free, but with some spring rains. Glad to see warmer weather."

In Stanberry, Missouri, Bob Birdsell reports that it's a bit on the dry side, but he's not going to complain as they are calving. "The frost is just going out now, so there are some soft spots," he wrote Tuesday evening. "We need to start fieldwork as soon as possible as there are lots of ruts to fill in and we have not put on any NH3. We would like to try to start planting around the 20th of April, but the ground has to pass the bare butt test first!"

I am waiting to hear back from Bob on what "the bare butt test" consists of.

Farther north and west, Doug Zillinger of Logan, Kansas, has the opposite problem. "It's been a long winter of NO (and I mean NO) moisture. I have had my overshoes on twice this spring after an inch skiff of snow and took them off before noon each time.

"I was putting fertilizer on wheat today (March 10) and had a dust cloud behind me like I was pulling a 30-foot field cultivator in August. Wheat is trying to break dormancy, but it is having a hard time with the intermittent cold snaps we keep having. Lots of talk about winterkill and I am sure we have more than we want. We might even have to spray back some wheat and plant milo if it rains."

In Iowa, despite some warm temps this week, it seems early to be thinking of fieldwork or planting or prevented planting. Pete Bardole, of Jefferson, wrote Wednesday, "There is still frost in the ground here in central Iowa; not as much as I thought before this afternoon (March 10). We took a soil probe out and where snow cover was heavy ... the ground was ... still solid. It has been dry here this winter, one big snow several small snows, but not much water in them. Tiles ran for much of the winter as we were very wet though harvest. I hope we can be in the field before the end of March since we didn't get any strip-till done in the fall."

In Hardin County, Ohio, Daniel Hiller reports: "Lots of standing water and runoff because the dry ground is frozen, preventing it from soaking in. Most of the snow will be washed away with the rain forecast for Friday. We are north of the big snows that hit the south end of the state. Just think of the ice dam in the New England states causing flooding."

Of course, the farther north we go, the less prevented planting or delayed fieldwork is on producers' minds. Jason Willemarck in central Wisconsin said the snow is melting, but not doing much for soil moisture.

"The snows are just about all gone except for the drifts along the north side of buildings and tree lines. By the end of the week and weekend we will be snow free. We hadn't had too much snow this year. We had several weeks of sub-zero (temps) and what snow we did get was a dry snow. Our moisture levels are getting dry. We will need some early rains in order to get the moisture levels back and have a decent spring planting for seeding. It is still only March 11th and have time yet before we get nervous. We have some seeding to put in this year, and with warmer weather I would think that by the end of March, early April, many will be out in the fields on the higher ground."

Lastly, but certainly not least, Crawford McFetridge reports from the Finger Lakes area of New York: "Well the snow is still knee deep. From the first of the year had a record 27 days that got below 0 (degrees) and I think 45 below 32 (degrees). Now waiting for the flooding to start with a warm, heavy rain with deep snow. Fun times."

Fun times indeed.

If you'd like to join our email reader consulting group, drop me a line at cheri.zagurski@dtn.com or call me at 1-800-485-4000, ext. 6402. I'd love to hear from you.

(AG)

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