News
Rain already causing planting delays in southern Illinois
Excessive rain has already pushed back planting start dates for farmers in southern Illinois.
Daryl Cates farms in the Mississippi River bottoms of Columbia, Illinois. He tells Brownfield he had considered getting planters out in early April, but they’ve received more than 4 inches of rain in the past week.
“If we had not got this rain, I was thinking we would have tried to start next week. Now, they are talking about a chance of rain Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday again, so with this kind of rain and cold weather I am kind of glad my corn is still sitting in the shed.”
Cates says now it will likely be closer to April 20th before they begin planting and while some farmers are adjusting their corn and soybean crop rotations due to higher input costs, Cates says he is keeping his the same for now.
“Now, if it stays wet, and some of our ground that is supposed to go to corn stays wet, then I might have to change. But, it would be a weather situation for me to switch acres now.”
He says the river level is expected to reach 22ft by Sunday, which is still 8ft below flood stage, but more rain could prevent the already saturated soils on his river bottom ground from drying up enough to plant.
