View from the Cab: The time is here

By: Kent Casson

The smell of freshly-turned soil and dust fills the air. It must be planting time in Central Illinois.

What a difference a week makes. Just the other day, we were wondering when field activity would pick up then the new week arrived and everyone seemed to be doing something out in the field like spraying, working ground or planting. We must take advantage of these weather windows when we have them, because they don’t always last long.

The first planters were visible around here the other day, mainly putting soybeans in the ground as most growers feel it is still a bit too early for corn. Despite the recent rains in late March and early April, dust was still flying and the ground seemed to be dried out for the most part.

While temperatures haven’t been horrible, it has felt much cooler than it truly is thanks to those gusty winds which occur at least every other day in our part of the Midwest. It is rare to have a day with the wind below 20 miles per hour.

We started our planting season last Tuesday morning with soybeans. I was the seed hauler for the first day making trips to and from the field while Dad ran the tractor. Like many farmers, our first day is typically full of issues like software glitches or small mechanical failures. It is always nice to have that “first day” behind you.

As of this writing, they did put some rain back in the forecast and that includes Easter weekend. If it rains on Easter Sunday, it typically rains several more Sundays after that and the wet pattern continues. We don’t need it all of the time, but a little soil moisture doesn’t hurt every once in a while.

Those in Southern Illinois have seen their share of rain this spring. Early season floods left fields completely underwater and more rain fell in recent days down there. Producers are left wondering when or if they will have the chance to plant into the soggy ground. We are fortunate there hasn’t been major flooding in the central part of the state so far this year.

We need those crop prices to bump up a bit. Plenty of factors are impacting markets such as trade uncertainty in the world and continued competition from growers in South America. Sounds like corn is the crop of choice this year for producers in the U.S.