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Western Wisconsin farmer optimistic about crops

A western Wisconsin farmer says crops look good considering their very dry start.  Tom Gillis tells Brownfield, “I think we caught a few rains just at the right time.”

Gillis raises about 13 hundred acres of corn and soybeans northeast of River Falls, Wisconsin on a mixture of irrigated and non-irrigated land.  He says June was very dry, but there were three rain events around the 4^th of July, more rain in mid-July, and just over an inch of rain at the end of the month. “Even with the dry start and everything, it still looks very respectable. I’m expecting above APH (actual production history) yields.”

Gillis says he does use a drought-tolerant corn variety on his non-irrigated fields, but it’s too early to know how those fields will compare to his other varieties.  He also uses a combination of no-till and strip-till to help build soil health and retain moisture.