Tennessee farmer says he’s pleased with crop conditions

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Tennessee farmer says he’s pleased with crop conditions

East Tennessee farmer Don Holbert says it was so wet at the start of planting season, he wasn’t sure he’d ever get his crops in the ground. And then, he says, thing changed.  “About the 6th or 7th of April it dried up, and we caught a break and got everything in, in about 10 days,” he says. 

He tells Brownfield he was happy with the overall field conditions.  “It might have been a little too wet when I started,” he says.  “But by the time we finished up, I honestly am not sure it could have gone any better.  It went real well.”

He says weed pressure has been minimal so far and attributes a lot of that to his cover crop program. “This past fall I cover cropped about 300 acres, I didn’t want to go whole hog on it until I had it dialed in,” he says.  “As I’m walking the fields now, I’m pretty pleased with how things are coming up.  I think we’ve got a pretty good stand and so farm, I’m just pretty pleased.”

Holbert says they’ve been in a rainy pattern recently and if it persists they’ll likely have to make some additional passes across the field.

AUDIO: Don Holbert, Tennessee

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