Today’s dreary, drizzly weather brings no relief to South Dakota farmers, who are well behind on planting. Yesterday’s USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service crop progress and condition report says there’s a lot less of everything in the ground compared to last year and to averages:
| Crop | Percent planted as of 5/19/2019 | Last Year | Five-year average |
| corn | 19 | 60 | 76 |
| soybeans | 4 | 21 | 39 |
| spring wheat | 70 | 92 | 94 |
| oats | 61 | 90 | 93 |
| sorghum | 1 | 24 | 17 |
But hey, no rush on those soybeans, farmers: the trade war the guy you voted for declared with China and the taxes he’s imposing on you and your fellow Americans may kill off that market for your lifetime.
In a couple of trips over the weekend, we noted that about half the land we passed through is under water.
Same is true in Minnesota. Seems to rain every day, or every 3rd day. Today’s rain began just before 4:00pm. Yesterday I drove through 75 miles of rural. My estimate is that more than half the fields are tilled and ready to go. I only saw 1 that had a crop growing, rows of tiny corn plants just sprouting up.
One place is going and growing great guns, the Hmong farms. Those people can out farm anyone and they work their butts off! They’ve cooperatively bought about 80 acres along highway 52 in the Vermillion River valley, divided into 4-5 acre plots. They each have a large garden shed on their acres. There are probably 6-8 little old Allis Chalmers, Ford or Farmall tractors that seem to be shared. The majority of the work on their garden crops is done by hand, so the rain is not as much of a problem.
I’ve been to the Hmong Marketplace in St. Paul where they sell lots of stuff, including produce, from several buildings. They grow mostly crops that we’re familiar with, but some we’re not. The grannies and grandpas are there, plus a grandchild who speaks English at each booth.
Those old grannies munch on enormous cucumbers like we eat apples. They appear to be a favorite. Those little old ladies keep an eye on the booth, grandpa, grandchild and chatter away with their neighbors. They are the boss, despite being under 5′ tall. 😁😁😁😁
If you get to St. Paul in the summertime, look me up and I’ll take you there. It’s the most fun farmer’s market in the metro.
USDA science being thrown in the ditch. The North Carolina site is indefensible given the “rationale”. Carolina is no producer bread basket. Ever. Denver make more sense for its centralized location and it hosts the highest concentration of federal workers outside of DC.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/05/22/usda-researchers-quit-droves-trump-administration-plans-relocation/?utm_term=.914ce24b1e05
If you can’t change the science, then change the scientists, eh?
Yeah, it’s really wet in Wisconsin, too. Wet and cool. We’re not under water, but it will be a late crop. The storms seem to be heaviest south of us, coming through Iowa and northern Illinois, so I imagine those states are pretty wet.