News
Producers could face a storm of uncertainty after planting
An ag meteorologist expects current weather patterns across the Corn Belt to stay through planting but there’s uncertainty brewing for the summer.
“The whole pattern where it’s wet in the East and dry in the West is going to stay with us into March.”
Drew Learner is with World Weather Inc. “We will see very quick planting in the Western Corn Belt because that’s where it’s the driest,” he says. “The eastern parts of the Midwest are going to be dealing with excess moisture and some flooding, so they’ll be a little slow getting into the fields. And, that could be a problem too because when we get into July and August, the eastern Midwest will probably encounter a drier trend.”
He says that will cause issues throughout the Corn Belt. “We’ll end up with short roots maybe and then we’ll get rather drier at the end and that could end up hurting some of the production potential,” he says. “It is something that needs to be closely monitored. I couldn’t stand here today that we’re going to have a huge problem, but I am very concerned that we are going down that road.”
Brownfield interviewed Learner at the AgMarket.Net meeting.