Area farmers still looking to start fieldwork because of cold, wintry conditions

Another week of cold, wintry conditions limited farmers to only 0.1 days of fieldwork during the week ending April 17th, according to the latest Minnesota Crop Progress and Conditions Report from the USDA.  KAUS News spoke with Josh Schofner, a Field Agronomist with Pioneer in southeastern Minnesota who stated that there has been some activity taking place in fields despite the weather, and he added that excess moisture should not be a factor in keeping farmers out of their fields once temperatures rise for the start of fieldwork….

Schofner went on to state that despite the late start, he doesn’t think we’ll see farmers looking to switch to corn varieties with a shorter growing span, or from corn to soybeans en masse…

Topsoil moisture supplies were rated 2% very short, 9% short, 68% adequate and 21% surplus.  Subsoil moisture supplies were rated 3% very short, 20% short, 69% adequate and 8% surplus.  Oats planted was reported at 1%, below the five-year average of 11% for this time of year, and well below last year’s 28%.  All other crops remained at 0% planted.