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Dry conditions improve in Missouri, farmers resume soybean planting

A farmer in the Missouri Bootheel says he’s grateful for the recent one-inch rain.

Aaron Porter tells Brownfield he had stopped planting last week, because field conditions had gotten too dry.

“We were having to go pretty deep with the planter’s row cleaners, kind of blowing the beds out a little bit. And then we couldn’t, at two inches, we still couldn’t find moisture. It was getting pretty desperate there for a little while.”

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows a widespread improvement in dry conditions across Missouri. Twenty percent of the state remains in drought, compared to more than 32 percent the previous week.

Porter farms in Stoddard County, Missouri, and it’s currently split between moderate and severe drought. He’s resumed soybean planting.

“There’s a lot of planters running around the country today.”

Porter says some of the soybeans are emerging and says the recent rains will help create an even stand.

He’s optimistic to get some corn planted this weekend, before more rain is expected to come next week.