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Ohio farmer still prepping for spring planting season

A southwestern Ohio farmer says he’s still preparing for his spring planting season.

Eric Tipton farms in Fayette County.

“We just hooked the planners up today,” he says. “We’ve had them through the shop and everything, but now we’re actually hooking them up and being serious about the next stretch of weather. We’re still kind of in the prep mode stage, but I would say the next window that we get, we’re probably going to be looking at putting some beans in the ground.”

He tells Brownfield they have had challenges with their winter wheat crop.

“Our wheat has really been kind of through the ringer,” he says. “We put it in the ground, it was extremely dry and had a lot of trouble getting up and germinating. We’ve had some warm weather here, so it’s really kind of turned a corner for us. I don’t think it’s going to be the best wheat crop that we ever raised.”

The USDA’s first weekly crop progress and condition report of 2025 shows Ohio’s winter wheat crop is 2 percent jointing and 60 percent good to excellent. Eight percent of oats are planted.

Topsoil moisture is 99 ​percent adequate to surplus and subsoil moisture is 92 percent adequate to surplus. There were 0.5 days suitable for fieldwork in the week.

AUDIO: Eric Tipton, Fayette County farmer