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Agronomist urges farmers to be patient as soils dry out

An agronomist says most Wisconsin’s fields are not yet ready for fieldwork. Joel Steiber with Pioneer tells Brownfield, “In terms of just evening out some of the ruts taht were put in some of these fields to get the crop out as well as the lack of any really meaningful fall tillage last fall, I think the combination is going to put us a little later than I think we normally would be.”

Steiber says the cool temperatures and the wetness that began last fall continues to keep most farmers out of their fields. “The frost is coming out but we’ve got those ponds in a lot of fields and, you know, those have got to go down and in addition to that, we’ll probably need some warmer days and more importantly, warmer nights.”

Steiber tells Brownfield farmers should remain patient. “The growers that are disciplined in their approach to staying off these fields when they’re wet or even when they seem like they’re dry on top but they may be wet down below, those are sins that you can’t pay for during the course of the year.”

He says there may be a lot of manure to spread and tillage to catch up on, but farmers will eventually get a planting window.