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Ohio farmer says a good winter set the stage for decent field conditions
Heading into the start of planting season a northwestern Ohio farmer says field conditions look better than he expected.
Nathan Eckel tells Brownfield he had a really good freeze this winter. “That forgave a lot of the sins that we did this last fall with the wet condition that we had,” he says. “Not a lot of tillage got done.”
However, he says his winter wheat crop didn’t fare well. “We had a lot of winter kill and a lot of drowned out spots in these wheat fields around here,” he says. “At least a portion of the wheat fields are going to be torn up this year. Now we decided what that’s going to go to, whether it’s beans or corn.”
And, Eckel says that decision isn’t going to be an easy one. “We keep watching these input prices go higher and higher,” he says. “It’s sometimes going to be a game-time decision and you’re going to have to have a good relationship with your seed guy.”
He says his area is pretty saturated and planting is likely still a few weeks from starting.
AUDIO: Nathan Eckel, Ohio soybean farmer
