What better time that a pandemic to be out standing in your field… or better yet, out tractoring in your field? The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service says some farmers are taking advantage of this year’s drier spring weather, which gave us 5.7 days of good fieldwork conditions last week:
Corn planted was 8 percent, near 6 for the five-year average.
Soybeans planted was 1 percent.
Winter wheat condition rated 0 percent very poor, 1 poor, 27 fair, 69 good, and 3 excellent.
Spring wheat planted was 36 percent, well ahead of 6 last year, but behind 51 average. Emerged was 7 percent, behind 16 average.
Oats planted was 42 percent, well ahead of 6 last year, but behind 49 average. Emerged was 9 percent, behind 22 average [USDA NASS, “South Dakota Crop Progress and Conditions,” 2020.04.27].
Our neighbors in Minnesota have 40% of their corn in, compared to 1% last year. Minnesota farmers also have planted 43% of their oats, 6% of their spring wheat, and 29% of their sugar beets.
Let me add to these numbers. Mine are for my garden. Technically, it’s in Shorewood Hills, WI, a little village that includes part of the University of Wisconsin where our gardens sit on land not far from where early Native Americans built burial mounds on a little peninsula that juts out into Lake Mendota. Much later Black Hawk, a leader of the Sauk and Fox peoples, who warred with the US over broken treaties, would find an escape route just north on the highlands that border our community garden plots.
The numbers: 100% of my first plot of lettuce planted with 0% emerged, 100% first spinach planted, 0% emerged. Now I’ll just make it a ditto for beets, carrots, radishes, snap peas and snow peas. We have 25% emergence of our second year asparagus, 75% of oregano, 100% of garlic (planted last fall), and some volunteer garlic from last year.
We’ve had a late spring in Wisconsin. It’s been cooler than normal, but not too wet in the southern part of the state, so I imagine crops are getting planted faster than last year, which was horribly wet.
I have aspersions ready to be harvested, including three year old volunteer asparagus in my raised onion bed. I have over half of my spuds interred and about a third of the onions planted.
Landlord has this farm all planted. Corn and beans. He is done elsewhere with corn and I am not sure about beans. We did have rain, about 4 tenths over night. Should help garden crops immensely.
This is the earliest I have been able to plant in the past four years. Last year spuds didn’t get planted until June and I had the biggest spuds on average, that I have ever grown in 50 plus years of gardening.
Is that right, Mr. mike? There, in Iowa, you can grow giant spuds? Tell me they are not only large, but yummy, too.
I haven’t planted anything yet, waiting for the guy to till the community garden. I have tomato and bell pepper plants. I’ve started basil, oregano, chives, watermelon and cantaloupe. I’ll direct seed peas, spinach, carrots, mustard and onion sets. I’ll put the pansies and violas in the garden plot too. Gotta have a few flowers there, plus a pot in the house.
It sprinkled a little the past couple days here, but not enough to keep farmers out of their fields. It’s been great weather so I’m guessing most of the planting is done.
Thursday I’ll be driving to St. Paul and my route takes me past the Hmong farms. I’ll bet their small vegetable tracts, 4-5 acres each, are entirely planted, mostly by hand. Those folks may be small, but they work everybody else into the ground.