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Nebraska corn planting picks up pace

A northeast Nebraska farmer says planting is off to a great start.

Quentin Connealy tells Brownfield he started corn and soybean planting mid-week last week and soil temperatures are in good shape. “We’re pretty close to 60 degrees in the ground and had some good warm days, but Friday and Saturday we’re real cold around here and sitting in the 40s, so I did not plant any corn Friday or Saturday.”

The latest crop progress and condition report from USDA says 4 percent of the Cornhusker corn crop is in. Two percent of soybeans have been planted.

Connealy says drought conditions are intensifying and his area has only gotten small rain events including this weekend. “I planted right through it till about 7:30 till the field was done. We had a few sprinkles on the windshield and it kind of wet the ground as I got done. Those bad storms slid south, and I was southeast of Tekamah planting the whole time and they kind of slid south of me and turned towards that Herman-Blair-Fort Calhoun area where they got some of that big hail and tornado activity.”

Thirty percent of the winter wheat crop is rated good-to-excellent.