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Kansas farmer says planting progress is off to a great start

A Central Kansas farmer says corn planting is in great shape in his area.

Rick Schlender raises corn, soybeans and wheat about an hour northwest of Wichita. “Dryland corn in our area has gone in. We have good subsoil moisture from our November (rains), so we’ve got better moisture conditions. I just wish we would have had more rain with the strip fill farms just so they get that settled.”

He tells Brownfield irrigated corn planting has just started. “We had a cool spell from about the 3rd of April till a couple of days ago. Our soil temperatures dropped quite a bit. The irrigated stuff will get going here really rapidly from what the forecast is like. We’re seeing some warm temperatures on the horizon.”

Schlender says there’s enough subsoil moisture to get the crop off to a good start but will need timely rains in about a month.