Fortunately, advances in planting technology have improved farmers’ ability to adapt to conditions and still get crops in the ground in a responsible, timely manner.
“One of our biggest challenges is coming out here and planting fields that are marginal,” said Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal field agronomist to AgriTalk Host Chip Flory. Too much downforce, for example, could cause compaction and smeared sidewalls.
“Today we have air-controlled row cleaners, we have hydraulic lift on the row unit,” he says. “All day [Tuesday] and definitely [Wednesday] morning as we’re planting, we’re carrying almost 100 pounds of hydraulic downforce on these units to keep them light enough to allow us to plant the field.
“That’s stuff you just couldn’t do five years ago—you either had to wait for the field or you’d put it in tougher conditions,” he adds.
With improvements in technology, farmers have a wider window to plant corn and soybeans which, in turn, means farmers can get across more acres than ever before. Past Farm Journal research indicates 42% farmers can plant their fields under 10 days.
Last year, fast and adaptable planting made all the difference across much of the soggy Midwest. This year, many farmers are in better shape in terms of planting, but fields might not be the perfect stands some saw in 2019.
“We’re quite a bit ahead of last year in acres planted—especially corn acres,” Ferrie says. “Unfortunately, we probably can’t say that we’re better off when it comes to yield because we’ve got a lot of rough stands that went underwater after they got planted.”
