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Corn and soybean planting starts in MO Bootheel

A Missouri Bootheel farmer started planting corn and soybeans this week, striving to make decent progress ahead of weekend rains.

“We should be between 10 to 20 percent planted by the end of the week.”

Barry Bean says good soil moisture should give the crops a solid start.

“Enough moisture so we needed to dry out from last weekend’s storms, but we’re in good shape and we hope to be in better shape Friday afternoon.”

Bean says he’s optimistic the right cropping mix has been selected for the farm. However, if commodity prices don’t improve by the end of the year, he says everything planted will likely be sold at a loss.

“We’re diversifying things a little bit. Last year, we didn’t have corn. We added corn to the mix this year and we’ll be close to a quarter on each of our four major crops.”

He says rice planting should start soon, followed by cotton.