June 1, 2009
Matt Bewley and Mikkel Pates
Agweek
The 2009 planting season has been ugly for farmers in the area. Some are bumping into planting deadlines that would put them into decisions about whether to activate their prevent-plant insurance coverage.
Photo: Jimmie R. Nelson, who farms just south of Moorhead, Minn., says this year's crop is all planted, but some of it went in ugly. (Mikkel Pates / Agweek)
Even those who have gotten things planted are concerned as they go forward.
Jimmie R. Nelson, who farms south of Moorhead, Minn., finished his planting May 25 - “at night, after supper.”
Several of his neighbors are done, too, he says, although a few fields still are waiting.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, farmers through much of the four-state area are ahead of schedule for corn planting and slightly ahead of average for soybean planting, although there are some notable exceptions.
The Nelsons raise about 700 acres of sugar beets, 1,000 acres or more of soybeans and a little less of both corn and wheat. Despite the fact that Moorhead is nearly 1.5 inches below average for precipitation since April 1, the moisture carry-over from last year was dramatic.
“When we went into it, the ground was extremely wet from last year,” Jimmie Nelson says. “We didn't get it worked up good last fall and we had to dig it in a bit deeper than we normally do. Usually we like to work it up, let it dry for a half a day and plant. This year, there was so much residue we had to dry it for one to two days on a lot of ground before we could get in and plant and do anything. And we had to set up the planters a little different than usual.”
Last year's corn ground was “just a big mess,” he says. The Nelsons worked it twice and seeded beans into fields that had 2- to 3-inch mud balls, with no fine dirt.
“After that, we needed a 1.5-inch rain to get the seed-soil contact, and that's just what we got Sunday night. It's the worst conditions I've ever planted in that corn ground. It made you just almost sick to try and plant,” he says.
The Nelsons are planting almost the full 90% of share acres they are allowed under the most recent American Crystal allowances, as the co-op decides how to get full production to keep processing plants running at full capacity.
As of May 26, Nelson says they “have some beets emerged right now,” Nelson says. “We also got a corn field up that had been planted April 23. We were in the field in April, at one point.”
Nelson, who was one of the first farmers in his neighborhood to plant Roundup Ready soybeans some 20 years ago, says everything he plants now is Roundup Ready, except for the wheat.
Nelson expects yield reductions this year because “everything is exactly a month later than it should be.”
He says it “may take off and grow, but the problem is that when all of the plants flower - wheat, beans, corn - it's going to be hotter, and if it 'burns' during the flowering, it don't produce the yields.”
He thinks back to a recent year when the wheat had straw to produce 70 to 80 bushels per acre, but an untimely 96-degree temperature damaged it during flowering, knocking yields way down.
Here is a state-by-state break-down of the NASS weekly crop-weather report released May 26, along with comments:
MINNESOTA
With the corn nearly planted, soybean progress moved forward. In the Red River Valley, farmers were in need of a dry period, while much of the rest of the state suffered with hot, dry conditions and depleting topsoil moisture.
Dennis Berglund, manager of Centrol of Twin Valley, Minn., says there are two bad areas in his company's coverage area, which is in both Minnesota and North Dakota.
On the Minnesota side of Centrol's coverage, one area of tough going is from Moorhead to Mahnomen, where corn had been standing and didn't get worked last fall.
It caught snow and soaked in and was “unbelievably wet,” Berglund says. “It looked like you could drive through it, but when you walked into it you'd sink up to your ankles.”
While that corn largely got taken off - and at pretty good test weights - the decision of putting another crop in the ground is a ticklish one. Farmers must decide whether to take prevent-plant insurance for the short term or put a crop in that can remove excess moisture, increasing their probability of a good crop in 2010.
Berglund's clients have most of their corn in, and “now we'll see what happens from here out.” He says as sugar beets migrated northward in the past several years to the Drayton, N.D., area, there may be some joint venture deals that move southward this year to take advantage of American Crystal's call for shareholders to increase planted acres to 90% of stock acres. The company initially had planned on 83% to 85% of stock acres this year to keep tonnage in line with processing capabilities.
Berglund says in early May his consultants estimated that perhaps 10% of the land would be prevent-planted. That would apply to about 100 miles into Minnesota, and then out to the Jamestown and Rugby areas in North Dakota.
“It'll be worse in some areas,” he says.
Statewide in Minnesota on May 24, topsoil moisture was rated 11% in the “very short” category, while 27% was rated short, 53% adequate and 9% surplus.
Some 71% of the spring wheat was planted and 24% of that had emerged. Spring wheat planting progress was a whopping 37% higher than the previous week. Farmers turned in similar results for barley, sunflower and canola.
Oat conditions were rated 31% “fair” and 53% good, with 11% excellent.
Soybean planting sped along to 75% complete - finally moving ahead of the previous year and now on pace with average.
Pasture and range conditions are 55% rated “good” to “excellent.” Producers began work on first-cutting alfalfa in some areas.
The states' corn is 71% emerged, up from the 63% average for this date. Similarly, soybeans are 21% emerged, just shy of the 22% average for the date.
Sugar beets were rated 92% planted, compared with the five-year average for the date.
Potatoes are about on schedule.
NORTH DAKOTA
After an average delay of two weeks getting into their fields, North Dakota growers have made good progress recently, though they still are behind five-year averages. Spring and durum wheats are 69% seeded, and barley is 66% seeded. Oats are 77% complete. All small grains planted are at least 25% emerged, just half the statewide average at the same time last year.
Sugar beet growers made the most progress this past week, getting more than half their seed in the ground, while corn plantings reached 61 percent. Soybeans are 27% planted and sunflowers are reported to be 15% complete. Potatoes are 39% planted compared with 78% average and dry edible peas are 90% seeded and 37% emerged. Canola is 56% seeded and 17% emerged.
In topsoil moisture, the extreme southwest corner of the state is rated short to very short, though the majority of North Dakota's topsoil is listed as adequate. In McLean County in west-central North Dakota, county extension agent Patrick Carpentier says things are looking up.
“This year, with the snow we've had, we've backed off five to 10 days,” he says. “But they did get started here, kind of in the ballpark.”
Once they were able to get started, they have been making good use of their time. Small grain planting percentages are all in the 80% range, and canola and dry edible pea percentages are in the 90% range.
“Things were really rolling the last four or five days, up to when we got the rain” May 23, he says. “We were seeing activity just about all through the county.”
Farmers in the northern portion of McLean County typically run a bit behind the rest of the county because of terrain and soil types.
“They don't quite have that luxury we've had. It's been a little wetter,” Carpentier says.
For the most part, though, he says all the small grains and most of the peas are in.
“There's quite a little corn seeded and the pinto beans are the next ones to go in,” he says.
The north-central and eastern portions of the state have surplus topsoil moisture because of abundant fall rains and winter snows, which often led to overland flooding. Some areas are in dire straights because the spring rains are keeping their fields too soggy to plant.
Cavalier County, in northeast North Dakota, is one.
“For the crop report this morning, I put 20% for small grains planted or seeded,” says county extension agent Ron Beneda. Farmers there recently were hit with 1.5 to 3 inches of rain in 20 hours.
“If they could have put that rain out west in the pastureland, it would have been perfect,” he says. Instead, Cavalier County fields remain very wet.
“I talked to several guys this morning that don't have an acre seeded,” he says. “There's a fair share that are half done, so those guys are feeling pretty good that they at least got something in the ground.”
But those without anything planted are feeling the pressure, particularly if they pre-purchased their fertilizer.
“Some of them did pre-buy the fertilizer and when you're in that situation, you've spent the money and it's a little more gloomy on that end,” Beneda says.
He has heard of a few farmers that are doing whatever they can to make use of their anhydrous, just to get it into the fields.
“My first thought would have been, well, if you can get through the field, maybe just use your air-seeder and get (the seed) in and then top-dress later with urea,” he says. “But it was pre-bought anhydrous, so there's a few that are just kind of forcing the issue that otherwise, would not be even thinking of touching it out there.”
The way things are going in Cavalier County, Beneda thinks prevent-plant acreage there is going to be very high, this year.
“We've had up to 21% prevent plant,” he says. “We'll be up above that. I would think it will probably be up around a third of the acres, just looking at how wet it is.”
The one saving grace for some of the farmers in his area may be the markets. If they begin to show some strength, farmers still may plant so they can offset the expected lowered yields with higher prices, he says.
“The only thing that'll keep guys pushing on to mid-June planting is going to be the markets,” he says. “But if we see the market slide, then it will really push the prevent plant.”
SOUTH DAKOTA
While farmers to the north struggle with wet soil, the lack of rain in South Dakota is looking at below-average temperatures with a first 100-degree in ay at Porcupine, S.D. The town also registered the week's lowest temperature, at 28 degrees. About 73% of the topsoil in the state was rated “adequate” for moisture, dropping 12 percentage points a week.
Craig Haugaard, grain origination manager for South Dakota Wheat Growers Association, based in Aberdeen, but covering much of the state, says the biggest crop problem so far has been the winter kill of winter wheat in the Wessington Springs area, and says the spring wheat is generally doing better than the winter wheat.
“The wheat, especially in the Highmore area, needs a shot of rain, but from what I'm hearing things are going getting off with a fairly decent start. It's going to be crucial to get timely rains.”
“The only area where we're having problems with it being too wet is north of Aberdeen, to the Hecla area, where I think you'll see 20 (percent) to 25% prevent-plant this year,” he says. As in North Dakota and Minnesota, this is largely a result of corn going unharvested in 2008 and land not being prepared for the spring.
Only about 20% to 30% of the soybeans in Haugaard's trade area were planted, but farmers were catching up quickly.
NASS survey cooperators say much of the eastern and southern part of the state is more than 2 inches behind average for precipitation during the growing season, while only a chunk of the southwest central part of the state was ahead of normal. Rainfall in much of the eastern part of the state averaged 2 to 3 inches less than typical for the growing season.
Britton, in the northeast part of the state, was 80 growing degree days behind normal, as of May 26.
Small grains seeding was nearly complete, while corn is 82% planted, compared with 81% last year and 89% for a five-year average. Mitchell and Armour were among the driest, with 3.5 inches and 3.1 inches behind normal, respectively.
Soybeans are 47% planted - only 1 percentage point behind the five-year average.
Out west, cattle condition was reported 80% good to excellent, range and pasture conditions increased by 12 percentage points to 76% in the good or better range.
Only 1% of the state's winter wheat was headed, compared with 11% for this date in a five-year average.
MONTANA
Statewide averages in Montana show spring wheat plantings are 90% complete and 62% emerged, while barley is 75% in and 44% emerged. The planting picture in eastern Montana is mixed, with some areas in great shape while others struggle for adequate rainfall.
“There's certainly parts of eastern Montana that have gotten more rain than other parts,” says Ben Larson, county extension agent for Richland County in the northeastern portion of the state.
His growers have got a good start with their spring wheat, barley, oats, field peas and lentils.
“Most everything is in the ground already,” he says. “We do have some oilseed crops like canola and safflower, and corn is going in, as well. Most of it is probably most of the way done.”
The majority of the sugar beets in Richland County also were in by the second week in May, but two late freezes since then have taken a toll, Larson says.
“There's roughly 4,000 acres of sugar beets replanted now,” he says. “We'll have to see how that comes.”
The ground has dried enough since the freezes that some growers now have to irrigate the beets to get them up. However, the replanting nearly was complete going into the Memorial Day weekend, he says.
As for their outlook, Larson says they need what some growers in North Dakota would gladly give if they could. He says the rains seem to skip right over them and land in North Dakota.
“We need moisture,” Larson says. “I would say the majority of the ground is probably at a stage of being adequate moisture levels, but there are parts that are drier, and we really don't have anything that's in surplus moisture, right now.”
Farther south, in Powder River County, where range grasses are a big concern, extension agent Mary Rumph says she is pleased with their weather thus far.
“We're looking really good. It's excellent,” she says. “The grass is just coming up really fast, and growing really tall, very quickly,” she says. “It's just going to be an incredible range year for us, with the amount of moisture we got.”
The county does produce some small grains, along with alfalfa, and just about everything is already safely in the ground, she says.
“We've had some rain, so I would say we're probably 90% to 95% in,” Rumph says. “But it has been a later year then normal for planting because of the moisture situation.”
She estimates that growers in her county were delayed two weeks by weather.
“Now we just need some warm weather to get everything going,” she says. “It's starting out to be an incredible year, so we just hope it continues.”
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