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Soils slow to warm in southeast Minnesota

A southeast Minnesota farmer doubts he’ll begin planting before May 1^st.

Ed McNamara of Goodhue says soil conditions are cool and dry.

“To be honest with you I’m surprised with the lack of moisture that we have the ground is not getting warm. We’ve been looking at bare ground, but it’s just not warming up.”

McNamara has been farming more than 40 years and tells Brownfield he’s only planted in April twice.

“Ground is going to warm up (so) go ahead and stick it in, might not come out of the ground for two or three weeks. I mean that’s the thing, I guess I like to stick my corn in the ground and boom having that thing come up and not stop.”

McNamara says fieldwork in his area has been limited to anhydrous applications, but some farmers might try planting next week.