“No reason to panic” • Wet start to spring not a major concern for planting season

A wet start to spring brings an air of déjà vu to the area’s crop planting season.

Angie Rieck-Heinz, field agronomist with Iowa State University Extension, said once again, rain has put a hold on efforts to get fields ready for planting. Last year, wet conditions pushed planting into late May in some areas. While it’s not clear how long farmers may have to wait to plant, she said fieldwork has to halt until soil dries.

“Everybody knows we had a really wet, late fall for harvest and we didn’t get a lot of nitrogen on,” she said. “Given the current situation here on April 12, which is the first day we could plant for crop insurance purposes, we still don’t have that additional fieldwork done.

“Basically, with the forecast to be wet and cool, we’re going to have a compressed work schedule to get tillage and anhydrous and people should be making decisions what their priorities are,” she added.

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