Meteorologist: Early Planting Unlikely

Meteorologist Dan Hicks of Freese-Notis Weather isn’t banking on the early fieldwork that some agronomists expect. With above-normal soil moisture in much of the Corn Belt and rainfall in states from Missouri to Ohio, fields may be fairly wet in March and early April.

“The thing that stands out to me the most right now is a potentially slow start to spring fieldwork and planting in parts of the Midwest,” Hicks said.

El Niño is contributing to the amount of precipitation arriving in the southeastern three-quarters of the Corn Belt. The climate pattern soon will be succeeded by La Niña, which brings cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific.

Meteorologists expect this spring to be wetter than spring 2015 but without the dramatic weather events.

Dave Mowers, an agronomist in Toulon, Illinois, said winter was good for conditioning the soil for potential early planting.

“We’ve had freeze and thaw and freeze and thaw a number of times, and the soil appears to be just ideal,” he said.

He acknowledges, however, that rains could delay the start of fieldwork.

Source: agriculture.com S