Farmers Get a Few Days of Field Work, But Still Fight With Rain
Tuesday, June 4th, 2019 -- 9:38 AM
(Wisconsin Ag Connection) -Farmers had a few nice days to work with last week, but were halted once again by heavy storms going into this past weekend.The latest crop/weather summary by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture on Monday noted that farmers were back in the fields as soon as conditions allowed earlier in the week, only to be interrupted by scattered thundershowers. Field conditions remained challenging and crop development continued to lag due to wet and cooler conditions. Many producers anticipated they would have prevented plantings this year. Topsoil moisture levels were rated 54 percent adequate and 46 percent surplus. As of Sunday, spring tillage was 76 percent complete statewide, which is 11 days behind last year and two full weeks slower than the five-year average.
Corn planting was only 58 percent complete, 13 days behind 2018's progress and 17 days off the norm. Just over a quarter of the crop has now emerged--also nearly two-weeks slower than where it's supposed to be for early June. The delays in tillage and corn planting has thus pushed soybean planting back by over 15 days. And winter wheat was seven-percent headed, a few days behind last year and more than a week behind average. Some farmers are still trying to plant oats in northern Wisconsin, with that crop only 75 percent seeded across the state so far.
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